Baby, You're Rich
by Cleome45
Summary: *We all have to eventually face our pasts.* Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. For Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Starts between S1 & S2, ends post-S2. Intros explain 'T' rating.
1. Baby, You're Rich

**Baby, You're Rich**

_Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Begins between S1 & S2, ends several years after the end of S2. Cautiously rated 'T' for violence, language, implied m/f, m/m, f/f eventually. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )  
_

_3007_

_Grystaad - Capital is Aalt City in the Seire Province. Populace has been suppressed and isolated by the ruling military Junta for over a century. Unaffiliated with the United Planets. Rarely accepts visitors or foreign aid. Reliable contemporary information regarding its inhabitants is scarce. - Galaxy-Planet dot com, 2999 amended posting._

My ears were probably still ringing, but with the air rushing by so fast, I couldn't hear much of anything. Lucky me. Saturn Girl was team leader, but she'd been knocked out in the explosion and couldn't thought-cast. Star Boy had taken her back to the main transport, so the two of us would have to complete this errand ourselves.

At this speed, there was nothing on either side of us but streaks of blue and green. I was trying to concentrate on the ground that was coming closer with each passing minute and the grip of the teammate behind me. Shrinking Violet was cursing in her native tongue at her ruined flight ring. It was spewing out almost as much smoke as the shuttle getting smaller and smaller below us. About one-and-a-half-minutes ago, somebody planetside had shot its back end off.

I morphed my head briefly back to its customary form and glanced over my shoulder. "You'd be in big trouble right now if I understood Imskian!"

"Yeah, yeah. You prep school kids are such fragile flowers. Just keep your eyes where -and how- they belong," she snapped.

_Yes, Ma'am. What with you being a whole year older than me, or whatever._ I returned completely to the form I was using. A local insect sort of like an Earth dragonfly. I had a ridge just behind my no-neck. It was cartilage, maybe three or four centimeters long, running perpendicular to my carcass. All of the native "buzzers" had it, but this was the largest species at about fifteen centimeters. Violet -–at about the same size- had her hands clamped to the ridge so tightly that if I'd closed my three red eyes, I probably would have seen flashing pain stars straight out of old cartoons. But we were still fifty meters above the ground, at least, and there was nothing else connecting us. So I didn't close them. My eyes in this form had thick, transparent secondary lids as proof against anything that the pollen-rich air could have flung at me, even at such a rapid clip. The lids were coated with a clear, oily substance to repel anything that could have hindered sight. Unfortunately, almost all of the rest of me had the same protection. The collar was the only portion that wasn't too slippery for her to keep contact with.

Finally, I slowed and touched down on top of a small building. A hollowed-out slope, really, made of the same earth and grass that we'd flown over. Something that would have been easy to overlook without the co-ordinates we had. At the slope's base was a road with beat-up dark gray paving. It wandered off in two different directions. The surrounding kilometers of grassland were dotted all over with purple and red flowers. The only real giveaway of its purpose from up top were black-coated energy panels; they were straight, rather than curved like the roof. The green grass surrounding them was only slightly less vivid than either of our uniforms.

Violet let go of my collar and vaulted over my head, even before my wings could even come to a full stop. She landed next to the largest of the panels. I was back to my regular form by then, but I stayed at reduced size. She put a finger to her lips and motioned me to wait. I just nodded, breathing deeply while I waited for my heart to slow down again. She ducked into the gap between the panel's connector cable and the hole that let it travel through the roof. Using the cable to guide her, she disappeared.

She had to do the last part on her own. The objective of our trip was down inside the sod structure, and I only would have gotten in her way. So I waited for ten minutes that felt like infinity. At least the grass kept me hidden and the humming of the panels as they drew on the sun above us drowned out any sounds from my pacing.

Through the grass blades, slivers of orange sun with shots of pink rested against a clear blue sky. The breeze was refreshing after the frantic speed of our escape. Under different circumstances, this would have been a pleasant visit. Well, apart from the areas that showed tripped mines, complete with torn-up prairie and the remains of unlucky travelers. Also the cityscapes in the distance, devastated in the aftermath of a year-long revolution; those didn't exactly cry out, "Welcome, Tourists!"

At last she came back, looking the same apart from some dirt on her gloves and shoes. That was a relief. I would have hated having a teammate die on my first day. She had rooted through the little power station and come back with a scratched, dirty black metal box; now held awkwardly over her head. A box maybe the size of a child's data pad, but with a round plex-window and a thin coil of black metal soldiered to its upper corners, forming a loop. You could see some kind of parchment through the window, pale gray with age. She lowered the box down into the grass.

"Your ring still works," she whispered, before I could say anything. "Get back to your normal state and take hold of the coil. Don't worry. It's strong, but we can't just toss it on the ground from this height and risk losing it again."

"But you-"

"- will be holding the other side of the loop. Fly us down to the ground."

Once we were down, it took her only seconds to resume full size. She carefully looped the coil through her belt, since our carrying case had gone down kilometers away with the shuttle. "We walk in the direction of the sun, right?"

I used my ring to bring up our map. The grass was shin-deep. It rustled in the breeze. "Yup. They _said_ it would be safe, so I guess-"

She looked startled all of a sudden, pointing down the road as a dozen or so figures in a cluster of blue and gray moved towards us. "Or else we..." She trailed off. The marchers were armed, but not wearing any one uniform.

"What should we- ?" I began, but Violet motioned me to be silent.

The local in front had pale blue skin, which meant that we were looking at a female. There was a mass of feelers on her head, where a lot of humanoids would have had hair. She glided along on a half-dozen tentacles, so she wasn't much older than Violet. The dominant species on Grystaad began life with multiple tentacles, which increased in size but decreased in number as they matured. By the time our new friends reached adulthood, the tentacles would be completely replaced by more humanoid-looking arms and legs. It had been in the briefing.

Just as I was going to try and bring up somebody on my ring, a familiar voice popped into my head.

_Calm down, Chameleon Boy. There won't be any trouble._ Violet and I broke into the same grin.

_Saturn Girl! You're all right!_

_Is everyone safe?_ Violet wanted to know.

_We're fine. Those soldiers are part of the forces that overthrew the Junta. They're friendly. They'll bring you back into Aalt City. We'll meet you there._

The squad had stopped five meters in front of us, and the leader crossed one arm-tentacle over her high forehead down and diagonally, in a local variation of a salute. Her three brown eyes, so dark that they were almost black, looked us over.

"Legionnaires?" A low voice with a growl, kind of like Timber Wolf, but a little halting, as if she were uneasy with Interlac. The now-deposed rulers of the planet had cultivated isolationism to the point of declaring a single planet-wide language of their own making; severely punishing anyone they caught communicating in other tongues. That had been in the briefing, too.

"Yes." Violet nodded, reached carefully for the box at her waist and held it out to the squad leader. "We've recovered what your leaders requested, despite some interference upon arrival."

The girl's face took on a broad grin, showing small white teeth. The soldiers around her began talking excitedly to one another in their own language, until she let out a sharp whistle. "Calm yourselves! And speak so that our Legion friends can understand you!" The voices immediately resumed, in whispers this time. I couldn't help smiling. The mass of feelers all waving back and forth was like a louder echo of the surrounding land. "Delse!" She motioned to the gray-skinned male next to her. He took the box from Violet and tucked it carefully into a bag he had strapped to his waist. The other soldiers immediately surrounded him, looking both protective and awed.

"Legionnaires," the girl was motioning down the road. "I am Zir Derbai. Please walk with me and stay close. We were blessed to find no landmines on our approach, so we will retrace our steps back for safety. _Exactly_." The last bit was directed to the other soldiers, all of whom nodded. "Not one motion off the paving, no matter how tired you grow. If you see your brother or sister about to stumble, you pull them back. Is that clear?" More nods. We fell in next to her, the rest of the group behind us.

"Can't Legionnaires fly?" It was another girl, calling from the back.

"Yes." Violet looked over her shoulder and smiled. "But today we're walking with you." This led to another excited volley of whispers. Derbai sighed and shook her head. "My apologies, Shrinking Violet. They agitate so easily and then become forgetful of the simplest but most important things. Most of them haven't been in the field very long."

"Oh, that's all right." Violet pointed at me. "Neither has he."

"I'll deal with you later," I mumbled, before turning to look at Delse. He was staring like he wanted to say something. For a few minutes there was no sound but our shoes as we walked, the locals as they glided, and the low speaking of Violet and Derbai in front of us.

Another male behind us nudged the small of Delse's back with his half-dozen narrow arm-tentacles. "Delse, you lost the draw! You have to do it! Ask him!"

Another round of whispers. I looked at my new traveling companion, who seemed to be about the same age as Derbai. His blue eyes flickered back and forth for a few beats, as if he were considering making a dash into the booby-trapped grasslands instead of talking to me.

"What draw?" I tried to look encouraging. Were we going to be talking astrological signs? Or maybe somebody was going to try and sell me holiday cards to raise credits for their roto-sled trip into the mountains next year.

"You're Durlan," another girl remarked. This one looked _really_ young, her "arms" clocking in at maybe a dozen tentacles each. "So you can be anything you want, can't you?"

_Oh, here we go. This has only happened 20,000 times since I first left the home world nine years ago. Let's get it over with._

"Can you turn into Delse here?" Another male. This one had light brown eyes and silvery feelers. Delse gave me an apologetic look. The two centermost feelers over his forehead made a hissing noise that I pegged as embarrassment rather than anger.

"Sure." I smiled, feeling bad for him. I had some familiarity with letting my mouth post payments that my credits couldn't actually back up. "If he doesn't mind my touching his forehead." Actually, that wasn't strictly necessary, but I'd get a better image. I'd pick up interior, not just surface.

"No. I mean- Yeah. It's okay." He leaned his head closer as we continued along the road.

I stretched my antennae out an extra few centimeters while I looked at him, letting them lightly tap his skin just once. Then I retracted them back to their normal length. There was the familiar sense of reading something new in its entirety, of storing it away, dissolution, then solidity. I could look into Delse's eyes and see his/my own transformed face in them.

There was a flurry of exclamations and amazed looks, before Derbai turned around and silenced her squad with one glare. I resumed my regular appearance as Violet backed up in the group long enough to give me an exasperated look.

"Violet, it's okay. He was just curious. I don't think it means my Dad has to put him through college or anything."

She sighed. "Just try and stay focused, Chameleon. Don't make me sorry that I voted you in."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

"Soooo..." It was a couple of hours later. We had long since collected the remains of the damaged shuttle and loaded them back onto the main ship. "Are all missions going to be that entertaining, or just the ones I go on with you? Those people all treated us like we were holo stars or something."

White Trip and Saturn Girl were piloting us back home while we talked with Star Boy. He was forwarding information to H.Q. for some kind of follow-up.

"Just remember, Chameleon," Violet said, "The mission's not over until your report is filed."

"Totally looking forward to it." _Dear SciPol, it all began when I turned into a giant dragonfly because my mission partner thought it would make me hard to shoot at. Or maybe she just always wanted costume jewelery that talks..._

"Hey, nobody likes filling out reports," Star Boy was smiling. "Except for maybe Cosmic Boy. Anyway, look at it this way: You two did an amazing thing today."

"We all did," Violet said.

"Okay. We all did. That was Grystaad's original Charter and Constitution that you two retrieved. The new government wanted it back before they'd vote to join the U.P., and why shouldn't they have it? The Junta looted pretty much everything else of value before they fled the planet. It'll be years, maybe decades, before anyone can find what they hid; much less return it."

"It didn't look like much," I said.

"Don't underestimate the value of symbols." Star Boy looked thoughtful. "Sometimes they hold a lot more than you think they do."

"Maybe it just seems like one goodwill gesture" added Violet. "But now we've got something to build real relations on."

"Sooo... it's kind of like seed money, huh?"

"Pretty much, yeah." She grinned.

"Okay then." I sighed and rubbed at the back of my neck. I could have sworn that I still felt the pressure from her fingers there. "Any sign of whoever greeted us with the laser bouquet when we entered Grystaad space in the first place?"

"Working on it." Star Boy had a field unit perched on one knee and was reading some kind of police feed. "There's a handful of loyalists to the old order still there. It might be a while before they're all found. But that isn't the worst thing left over from Grystaad's former rulers at this point. The worst would be all those damn landmines they left everywhere."

"That'll be a fun project for the new government." Violet sighed and shook her head.

I remembered how protective Derbai had been of her squad on the road. "Just how many of those things are there?"

"No one knows." Orange was nearby at the diagnostic unit, looking over a few chunks of the ruined shuttle.

"At least not yet." Purple added, reading from the opposite side and writing something down. "Star Boy, come and look at this." He put the pad down and went to join her.

Violet looked at me. "Sorry about your neck, by the way."

"Don't worry about it. The ache in my feet is distracting me."

She smirked. "You did pretty good for a first mission, Kid."

"Thanks, Commander."

She sighed. "I think I liked you better as a bug."

**End Ch. 1**

("_Baby_, _You're Rich," is a song by American treasure Percy Mayfield (1920-1984). Find it on the cd __Poet__ of __the __Blues__. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Grystaad and its people are just something I made up. Say it "grist-__odd__." Derbai is "dur-__bye__" and "Delse" rhymes with "else," just in case you wanted to know. __Thanks for reading.)_


	2. Cake Walking

**Cake Walking**

_(__Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike.__ Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earths's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. _Chapter sections set right after S2's "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Message in a Bottle," respectively. Cautiously rated 'T' for violence, language, implied f/f (plus implied m/f, m/m later on). I suppose this chapter could also be construed as somewhat unkind to B5 fans. If such things bother you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )

3008

"_...I hear over and over that other planets are too worried at this time to leave the hearts of their own cities unguarded, lest they be the next to feel Imperiex'es power. Well, as we have little of value at our own heart to guard at this time, we would be pleased to provide help for our U.P. Brethren on Earth. To our Legion friends in New Metropolis: Whatever assistance you require is yours for the asking..." - Ambassador Zir Derbai, open voice-com to U.P. Council, Mar 3008._

The red haze of dust, smoke, and various acrid gases remained heavy over most of the city, though in places it had begun dissipating to a sort of rusty pink. Even thinking about it made my eyes hurt. Or maybe that was just simple fatigue.

It had been barely a week since Imperiex and his forces had come from the future, freeing the Legion's worst enemies from Takron-Galtos. Those of us available had fought as best we could, only to be overpowered and locked up ourselves. Our absent teammates had returned from the future with reinforcements and freed us within two days of that. Now here we were. More specifically, here I was at microchip size, sliding around inside a circuit box that was almost a city unto itself. Under normal circumstances, I would have enjoyed this work. Today I was exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and wishing I could be at Medicus One with most of the team; visiting our injured.

If the outer city was still largely in ruins, at least this miniature one was all intact and humming along again. My survey complete, I exited the circuit box. Bouncy was saying something to the Tri- the Duos, most of it lost in the rush of air that always accompanied me when I changed size. They were wrapping things up, replacing tools in their proper cases and getting ready to take a break. Maybe he'd been telling her some awful joke or sharing some ridiculous pun. Whatever it was, Purple and Orange managed to smile. I glanced at them, feeling embarrassed at my own self-pity.

"How are the readings, Bouncing Boy?" I shook out my hair and rubbed my eyes, trying to feel alert again.

"Nice work in there, Shrinking Violet." Bouncy gave me a thumbs-up. "Air purification is back at full power!"

Purple was waving a small hand-held tester back and forth in the hallway while Orange jotted down some readings on a pad. "It's good to have you back, Vi," the Duos said in unison.

"Thanks." I helped them pack up the remaining tools and readers. "Would it be all right if I went upstairs to rest for a few minutes, Bouncy?"

"Sure. Just stay out of the guys' section."

I snorted and the Duos giggled as they merged together.

He looked embarrassed. "No, no, I mean... the guys' side is still pretty trashed, but your side is safe."

"I know." I grinned at him. "Just picking on you. Plus I'm kind of worn out."

"Hey, it was their turn," Duo said. "It's _our_ ceiling that ended up on the floor last time HQ got it in the teeth."

"Thankfully, I wasn't on-planet for the worst of that." I turned towards the the convenient seven-meter-wide hole where our lift used to be. "You know where I'll be if you need me."

They nodded and went off in the direction of the lounge. Most of the guys were bunked there until their own wing could be repaired completely.

Once upstairs, I settled down with my room com and a glass of cold water. At least hydration was safe around here again, even if nourishment was still somewhat unreliable. There were a few holos set into the rack over my desk. Some school friends, my Dad at the medical station not far from Xerengo's orbit. His face grave as ever below the drawn-back visor of his light green nurse's cap. Mom and Ruthel, arms around one another and smiling. I'd snapped that one right before I'd left home for the Legion. It was in the backyard, not far from the old tree-swing they'd built for me ages ago. Also not far from where I'd had an epic blowout or ten with Mom- once upon a time.

My stomach growled. I had a slightly fog-headed vision of _Tsalk_, the small cakes Mom's partner used to bake for tea whenever she wanted to calm things down between Mom and me. Which at one point was about three or four times a week. Ruthel was a good cook, but unfortunately neither Arn nor Anatj Digby possessed the culinary gene. My advancement from tea and toast to hot cereal was about the limits of my skills in that department. One of these days, I was going to bribe Timber Wolf to take a crack at Ruthel's recipe; assuming that I could think of something to bribe him with.

I'd only just had time earlier to reassure friends and family that, yes, I was out of jail and so were my teammates. Yes, the newsfeeds were telling them the truth about who had been injured. Yes, medics had finally gotten most of the area's hurt and homeless to temporary shelter. The fires and explosions still cropping up were being dealt with by SciPol and firefighters. I tried not to think about them being just as taxed to their limits as we were at the moment.

I opened a message forwarded from the diplomatic corps by our old acquaintance Derbai. She had been promoted away from soldiering some time ago. Though not much older than I, she was a senior by the standards of those remaining alive on her home planet. Grystaad was still dealing with its mine issues and other problems, but they had the beginnings of a real government now. One that interacted with the U.P. and would hopefully be a fully-functioning society again. Sometime soon.

Star Boy had been right about the value of symbols. Grystaad would be sending relief medics and firefighters to us by the end of the week. In a private message she added, _...Perhaps my reasons for generosity are not entirely unselfish. Zir is a name on Grystaad long associated with the Junta. I was the only member of my family to break away and join... Prison is not pleasant for anyone. I am pleased to find that you are free and safe again, my Legion Friend... _

Free and safe again.

I was sending a quick thanks to her when my door buzzed.

"Shrinking Violet?"

"Chameleon Boy." I closed the mailbox. "Come in."

He had a makeshift dark blue bag in one hand. Something clicked in my head. It had been sitting on a white plastic chair not far from where the Boys' and Girls' Wings split off from one another. When I'd flown upstairs a few minutes earlier, it should have occurred to me that neither item belonged in the hall. Fatigue and hunger... "Nice to see you. Don't suppose you're to here say that dinner's something besides Day Three of rice sticks and green recovery fluid."

"As a matter of fact..." he held up the bag. "Tonight we've got Xaffi chips and your choice of red or blue recovery fluid."

"Joy. Give me some chips and the red swill. The blue hurts my brain."

"Done." He came up with a small silvery bag and a red cylinder.

"Thanks." I popped open the can. It tasted as awful as I remembered. "Pull up a chair if you want. Unless you're still practicing posing as one. What was up with that, anyway?"

"Oh, just keeping a low profile, in case that hadn't been you coming upstairs before."

I shook my head and took another grimacing swallow. "What did you do now?"

"Kell-El and Brainy got back from patrol, and they'd been arguing the whole time. You could tell. And they weren't gonna' stop, either. I made the mistake of asking Kell when the engagement party was." He smirked as he grabbed a chair and sat down. "Seriously, that guy has no sense of humor."

"Whoa. Perceptive. I guess all that time with those detective holos is finally paying off."

"Uhh, excuse me? _You're_ the one whose idea of fun was recalibrating every scale, rad tester, burner, and measuring device in Brainy's lab." He had an open bag of chips, nearly empty, and he was scraping the last of the crumbs out with one finger. "You missed some of Bouncy's best material that weekend. Just because you wanted to-"

I held up both hands. "Okay, okay. Never mind. Also, you don't recalibrate rad testers. You use them once and then throw them away. Let's move on, shall we?"

"Your face is coloring," he said in a sing-song voice. "Is that from the drink?"

I made a fist. "I could shrink down, sneak up on you when you had night monitor, give you the granddaddy of all ear and nosebleeds, and totally make it look like an accident. I bet I could even find a way to pin it on Kell."

He pretended to pout. "You're so mean. If I beg forgiveness, will you throw this out?" He held out the empty chip bag.

"Okay. This time." I flattened the silvery plastic and slid it under the recycling flap next to my desk. I knew that the sorter chutes and the incinerator were functioning, since I had helped repair them. "By the way, what did _that_ bag used to be? It obviously started life as something else."

He sipped from a can of turquoise blue swill. "Olna-Ctar Academy's blazer. Oh, yeah. Nothing like the sound of _that_ tearing under a Lesser Rigul Dragon's teeth."

I snorted and almost choked in mid-swallow. "Not the claws, too?"

"Please. I didn't work that hard for those stuck-up jerks seven years ago. Why would I start now?"

"Hey, speaking of school, do you ever hear from Delse?"

"Yeah. I think he finished and went to work on some rebuilding project. He sent me some music waves right before everything went to hell around here. I haven't even had time to open them." He stood up. "Thanks for reminding me. I owe him a com as soon as-"

Another buzz at the door. Brainiac 5. He overrode my entry code and slid the door open without waiting for permission.

"Excuse me." His arms were folded. "If you two could possibly interrupt your socializing, I require Chameleon Boy's assistance downstairs, in the basement area." He looked no happier to see me than he ever did back then.

"Anything _I _can help you guys with?"

"No, thank you."

"But I-"

"Perhaps another time." Brainy turned back towards the door.

Cham looked back and forth at us, then handed me the remains of the supplies. His face and shoulders suddenly swelled into a caricature of a cartoon military man, complete with a huge white mustache and gold epaulets each the size of a small boat. "Take charge of these, Commander Digby!" he boomed. "The very future of our galaxy itself depends upon their safe- Whoa!" A robotic arm snaked out, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him off down the hall before he could finish. I heard Brainy's voice fading away as they continued towards the lift remains.

"...So with the continual flooding and the dangers of electrical conduction involved, I'll need you to..."

The door closed.

I sighed, returning to my mailbox and my high-class meal. At least Cham had sidetracked our resident genius before he could let fly with some well-meaning remark about how "unsuitable" my powers were. Really, I admired almost all of my teammates except on those occasions when I dearly wanted to kill them. At that time, nobody made me veer back and forth between two poles quite so much as Brainy. As for Cham, I envied him. Maybe he wasn't the smartest person I knew, and maybe sometimes people distrusted him because of his powers. To my mind, being distrusted was still better than being discounted.

Brainy just didn't understand. One of these days, I'd get through to him. _The smarter they are, the more they miss._

Free and safe...

Even if it were true and not just the measured kindness of a friend/diplomat, wasn't there more to life than just being free and safe?

I growled like Timber Wolf and tore open the bag of chips with my teeth.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Brainy and most of the others had gone off to rest, or recharge. So I was piloting us back home from Kandor, with help from the computers, of course. It was great actually getting to work with a group once in a while. So much of what I did for the Legion was undercover and in solitude. These days I spent a lot of long, boring weeks trailing suspected Dark Circle sympathizers, or Dominators –among others who were established or potentially new friends of Imperiex. I gathered reams of data, or evidence, and sent them home. Sometimes, I performed a little minor sabotage to test out the enemy's technological advances, or their reaction time. It was important work, but not exactly exciting.

Besides, how often did I get to punch out Validus, or see flying house pets?

"For the dozenth time, no- I'm not saying where! Can't you just read the damn thing the way it's _supposed_ to be read?" I turned around and saw Chameleon Boy stalking into the room, followed closely by Lightning Lad.

"Uh, guys?" I waved a little.

"Violet." They spoke in unison and glared at one another. Garth sat down in one of the chairs near the navigation console while Cham took the seat next to me.

"Do I even want to know?" I asked Cham. He shrugged. Garth was poring over something on a book pad, I noticed. "Garth, what'cha' reading?"

"_Constellation J_. It's his." He jerked his thumb in Cham's direction.

"Whoa. Mysticism, intrigue, explosions? Beautiful Myar priestess falls for beautiful Naltorian spy and so on? Isn't that supposed to be kind of, uh... grown up?" I looked at Cham.

"Hey, it's historic." He absently surveyed the console and tapped his fingers on the ledge. "That makes it educational." A smirk. "Right?"

"Hah. I've defrosted cooling units that were hotter than this snore-fest." Garth glowered over at us.

"He's just mad because I wouldn't highlight it for him." Cham sighed. "It's a really cool book. One of these days, I've gotta' get Bouncy to track down the holo."

"I'll bet I could reconstruct the cache and find out which pages you reread the most times," Garth said.

"Yeah? Bet you couldn't, Agri-Tech. You don't even know how to destroy that kind of cache, much less how to reconstruct one. Look, just read it or don't read it." Cham rolled his eyes. "Not like I'm charging you for the privilege, y'know."

Garth muttered something under his breath and went back to perusing the pad.

"Can I borrow it when he's through?" I double-checked the co-ordinates on the panel nearest me and made some minor tracking corrections. We'd be back in New Metropolis within half an hour.

"Sure. I thought you hated mysteries, though."

"Well, usually I do. How much will you pay me to _not_ help Garth reconstruct the cache?"

All of sudden, Cham got very preoccupied with the stars outside. "Shut _up_, Violet."

**End Ch. 2**

("Cakewalking_," is pop goodness from Young Marble Giants. Find it on a collection called __Colossal __Youth__, or a fine cover on Barbara Manning's __Under __One __Roof__. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Xaffi, aka Teff, is a real grain. Thanks for reading.)_


	3. Attract Mode

**Attract Mode**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter sections set six months and one year after S2's "Dark Victory," respectively. 'T' for violence, language, implied m/f, m/m, f/f. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome- especially since this is more plot-driven than anything I've attempted writing to date. Virtual cookies and ice cream to anyone who notices a gaping plot hole –-or even a minor one- and feels like pointing it out. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah._ )

Late 3008

_Seboiret – Originated on the planet Durla in the aftermath of the Six-Minute War. [see photos] A spherical puzzle half a meter in diameter. Carved from wood or soft stone into a concentric series of hollow shells in figurative designs, one inside the other. The traditional number of spheres to a puzzle was three, though some examples have up to eight. At the center was a representational or iconic image, which varied from puzzle to puzzle but was not visible from the outside. Seboirim (pl.) sat individually atop a column or were held by an adult. The "player" pressed antennae and sensors against the outermost sphere. The purpose was to develop in the young senses and perception needed for shifting by encouraging them to perceive color, shapes and imagery carved all the way to the core of the puzzle. Examples survive in off-world museums or private collections [see links]. - Paige Rozzin, Lost Arts of Twelve Planets, NCC Earth dot uni, Amended 3005._

_Salu – Derived from archaic Imskian, "Sael-lu." Literally "Golden Skin," In planetary legend, a flying dragon that could be hunted and consumed in order to enhance natural shrinking powers. Later came to mean "Prosperity" or "Good Fortune," particularly in battle. - Osharu Eastlund, Comprehensive Guide To Baby Names, Xanthu Nat'l Press." Amended 3008_

Once in a while, after he left, I would pull up the image of a _seboiret _on my com. My aunt had sent it to me for good luck after I joined the Legion. I would imagine Brainy as our core. We would search in all directions, with every sense possible, but never find a shape to replace what was gone. Then I would remind myself that sitting around brooding is stupid, close the image, and go back to work.

I couldn't have been alone. Everyone had to have felt that emptiness in the center, even if they didn't want to admit it. Everyone knew the necessity of having something to fill the space, even if they'd never liked him; even if they had no idea how we would do it or what exactly would finally take form.

During that first month he was gone, Violet was either off on missions or a recluse in the lab. She didn't speak much to anyone outside missions, apart from arguing with Invisible Kid now that he was around almost full-time. They'd parceled out the work Brainy had left unfinished evenly between themselves; which evolved pretty quickly into a contest to see who could close the books on his work the quickest.

It wasn't so much that one was smarter than the other, or more inspired. Only that they thought about things differently. Violet liked organization, routine, and everything in specific order. Lyle was more prone to letting things get into knots just so he could have fun untangling them again. If you were confused by his methods, it was your own problem and untangling them was good for you. It proved that you were really interested and not just going through the motions.

I ended up devising a lot of excuses to hang around there and look for errands. If anyone asked, I just told them that I was the buffer zone so our two now-reigning intellects wouldn't blast one another to bits. Not that it was the sole reason, but people bought it. Personally, I liked Lyle. Sure he was a smart-ass, but that's never exactly been a rare quality in Legionnaires.

Sometime during the second month, Cosmic Boy noticed that I was there a lot. He called Violet into his office and when she came back, I had my own entry codes instead of having to use a guest code- which had restricted my hours to when either she, Lyle or Dream Girl were already there.

"Nice." I looked up from the stack of manuals that I'd found in the basement on a search with Timber Wolf. Brainy had never needed to view those things more than once- or even view them in the usual way at all. It wasn't the same for the rest of us. Recoding and reformatting the thousand or so I'd unearthed was... a little work. "So what in hell did you say to Cos?"

"Actually, you should thank Phantom Girl. Our newly-elected leader ended up doing most of the talking. All I said was that without Brainy, it was going to take a whole lot of us working a whole lot more to fill in for a 12th-Level intellect."

I took off my ring and placed it in her outstretched hand. "Good line."

"It wasn't a line. I'll need about ten minutes to get the new code in here, but keep it in your head, too. Rings sometimes malfunction. Let's not push our luck with Cos."

I grinned, remembering our improvised field trip my first day. It seemed like so long ago now. "Okay. I won't."

"Good." She surveyed the jumbled mass of plastic discs that I was slowly getting labeled and boxed. "By the way, Trip says that if you continue like this, she's going to put a new holo-sign in the break room. Something that says 'The Legion Has Gone 'X' Number of Days Without Cos Putting Cham On Report.'"

"Trip should never have decided to become a doctor. She used to be halfway fun. Now she spends way too much time chin-deep in med texts. Not to mention holos about plagues and hideous factory accidents. Somebody should let her up for air."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

3009

Somehow two months became six months, and then six months became a year. Violet was doing some micro-sized work in the middle of the lab, and I was at the main terminal, cleaning up some files that SciPol had impounded from a cadre of Scavengers. The chair was set at an odd angle and I was too lazy to adjust it, so I'd lengthened my fingers to make reaching the keys easier. It was a trick I'd picked up from watching Brainy. Several minutes passed before I felt her eyes on me. When I turned around, she was at full size again, leaning against the table and looking at me without really seeing me. Her face was sad. I suddenly noticed the date blinking in the corner of the screen and wanted to kick myself. _A year tomorrow since..._

"Sorry." I retracted my fingers back to their correct length and returned to my formatting, a little more slowly than before. It was quiet in the lab. If Lyle had been there or if I'd been alone, there would have been music. Violet preferred unaccompanied thought, just like Brainy used to.

"I need a favor, Cham."

"Sure. What would that be?"

She was standing next to me by that time, and she reached over to open a file on the desktop. It only took a second for the translucent image to appear at full size next to us. There was a 3-D map of Grystaad, a globe with a rolling number underneath that began with the planet's entry into the U.P. As the calendar advanced toward present time, black dots, each about the size of a cherry pit, popped up all over the blue-green grid overlaid on the map. They flared white, turned blood red and stood blinking at the locale where they'd detonated. She touched something else on the screen, and small text balloons appeared next to one of the dots, listing casualties for the region. It was like watching as a living being had its blood drained away, in the span of a year or two.

As if reading my mind, she said. "I ran a projection of what the population will look like in two more years. Between the casualties from the mines themselves, emigration and the inability to cultivate industry or agriculture in the affected regions..." She shook her head and swore something under her breath.

"Do I want to see it?"

"No." Violet sighed and rubbed her eyes with one hand. "Hell, Cham. What am I missing here? Look at this. There's more and more of them appearing all the time, and yet Derbai and Grystaad's SciPol all swear to everyone that they've had no known contact with the deposed government; that all known remaining loyalists to the Junta have been rounded up. They're incommunicado with one another on Takron-Galtos, not to mention with anyone on their home planet."

Violet had gradually turned over most of her pet projects to Lyle or, occasionally, Dream Girl so she could put more time into this. Hours and hours between missions spent talking on com with Derbai and other officials, promising them that we'd figure it out. But I knew she'd never expected it to take this long. Every time the newsfeeds reported another spate of mine deaths, she took it personally.

"Violet, can I let the air out of this and then shade it in a little?"

"Sure."

"Computo, view Grystaad mine progression as a series of four 2-D maps depicting two hemispheres."

"*_Transforming..._*" Now we had a row of four flat images where the single globe had been before.

"Add topographical characteristics." We had medium gray textures and icons showing mountains, valleys, bodies of waters and urban centers. "Now begin mine progression again as before. Run at 25% original speed." We waited maybe fifteen seconds. "Okay. Tell me what you see now, Violet."

Without warning, she reached under my hand and touched the palm, pushing it up slightly. "Your right ring finger is much narrower than your left ring finger."

"That's because my ring's reached its expansion limit, so I shrank the finger on that side." I pulled my hand away. All of a sudden my mouth felt dry. "And I meant on the maps. We can worry about resizing my ring later."

"Sorry." She traced a finger over one intangible grid and its blinking red dots. "Computo, repeat modified progression." We both watched in silence. "Is it a pattern- the mines concentrated more and more away from roads accessing urban centers, away from mountainous regions; more and more towards the heart of any undeveloped area that might have habitable and arable land?"

"I think you're right. What does their SciPol archive say?

" 'The Junta engaged Grystaad's scientists in modified terraforming upon ascension to power, roughly one hundred years ago. At one time their goal was to make Grystaad to livestock what Winath is for grain. One more isolationist faction subsequently overthrew the other and that idea was abandoned. All food production and maintenance of reservoirs became concentrated in the cities, via importation, vertical farming and clone tech.' So theoretically, whoever is continuing to place these landmines has reversed their one-time purpose." Her eyes met mine.

"They don't want people to stay in the cities. They want them to leave the planet and hopefully not come back. Does that sound possible?"

"Sure. Or else we're just seeing bunny and ducky shapes in clouds. Maybe there's no pattern. Maybe it's just coincidence." She sighed. "Save that modification, then give me your ring, Cham. I can resize it for you as long as I've got the jewel welder out anyway. I was working on a new steering measure that Bouncy drew up for one of the ships."

I shook my head. "You don't have to-"

"Yeah, I do. I don't want this day to have been a complete waste of my time. So hand it over."

I gave in and dropped it in her hand. "Will you do my taxes, too?"

"Just shut up and get back to your files, Detective." She returned to the table and started up the welder.

I resumed keying, but faster again, as if something was chasing after me. Not good: both because I'd have to proofread it all twice as carefully later on, and because something really was... I turned around to watch her, which had gotten to be a bad habit for me lately.

"Hey," I said after a while. "I think I'm almost through with this subsection. You want to go over to the lounge and play some Spin-Out?"

"Maybe." Tyroc had come back from visiting Marzal a month ago, with a racing-battle hybrid game that a friend in his hometown had designed. Nobody else had a copy yet. He'd taught it to everyone and within two weeks, Violet was beating us all, apart from him and one or two others. "Ah, good," she murmured. "Finally got this right." Then, a little louder, "I'll just kick your ass again, you know." She looked up at me.

"My luck could be due for a change." _Damnit._ How long had I been staring like that?

"Oh, it's about luck, is it?" She raised an eyebrow. Lately she'd taken to sweeping her hair back under a band so more of her face was visible. I'd made the mistake of complimenting her in front of some of the others on a mission one day. I could have kicked myself for _that_, too. For weeks afterward, Garth wouldn't let me hear the end of it. Tinya kept giving me the kind of I-Hope-You-Know-What-You're-Doing looks that I could have gotten from my aunt. "So, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

I wrenched my eyes back where they belonged and keyed some more. "Go ahead." I heard her put down the welder and begin to repack some components she'd left nearby.

"Why are you here, again?"

"Oh. Well, see, my parents met at this street fair in the Fall of 2991, and- Ow!" A small plastic toggle had sailed across the room and hit me in the back of the head. I snaked an antenna back and snagged it before it could hit the floor. Then I passed it to the other antenna and dropped it next to me on the desk.

"You know, your repertoire of lousy jokes is right up there with Bouncy's."

"Thanks. I try."

"Answer my question, or I'm throwing another toggle. Hard, this time."

I double-checked an unraveled doc while I stalled for time. "I told you last year. It helps relax my mind. When I was still in school, it was the same. I always ended up as the library's or lab's assistant."

"Uh-huh. Karate Kid meditates. You file."

"Hey, he tried to teach me a few times, but I'm just not made to sit and stare at a candle. I kept yawning and messing up his concentration. He threw me out of his room the last time for tying my legs in a bow. Um, right after he got done laughing."

She snorted, but didn't quite laugh herself.

"That's the only reason, huh?"

I sighed and closed the doc, then spun around in the chair to look at her. The welder's bluish light was blinking "standby." It was set back in the holder but not switched off. She tapped idly at its base with her left hand as half her face flashed pale blue, over and over again. "Brainy asked me to. Before he left, I mean..."

A frown. "Oh, did he?"

"Not in so many words, but... Violet, it wasn't because he thought you were some kind of fool. Only that..." I could feel my face getting hot. Of all the things that Durlans should have considered before we said "yes" or "no" to using humanoid as a default form, I'd definitely put blushing high up in the "No Dice" column: somewhere between head colds and sprained ankles. Someday, I was going to misuse Time Bubble tech in order to have a few strong words with the ancestors.

"Well, it's been a year now, so did he specify a certain duration, or what?" She stood up and folded her arms. The welder switched to energy saver with a sharp beep as she stood with her back resting against the table. She stared at the door.

No, wait. First I was going to use the tech on my past self. We were going to have a nice long talk regarding his inability to ever keep his stupid mouth shut.

"Violet... it's cool. I mean, I like working with you. I like-" _I like looking at you. I like your weird laugh._ Oh, that would have been seriously bad. I knawed my lip and waited.

"You like relaxing." She unfastened the strap that held the safety visor around her neck and dropped it next to the welder.

"Uh, sure." Another few beats of silence. "Violet... ?"

She sighed. "You heard the news about Tran Delse? I saw it on the newsfeeds about an hour ago."

"Yeah. I saw it late yesterday." I got up from the computer and walked over, even daring to pull up a stool and sit right next to her. My usual spot was the other side of the table "Hell." I shook my head. "I just got a com from him a few weeks ago. He was heading to another restoration project, back in Aalt City. Is that where it happened?"

"No. It was in Bahrla Province, south of Seire. No big cities there, just a few empty towns." She sighed.

I made a mental note to re-read his coms and find out if Delse had ever mentioned Bahrla. It didn't sound familiar.

She went on. "I talked to their SciPol earlier today. There's so much you don't learn about people until... Delse was like me, you know. Not like you or Phantom Girl or Derbai. Not born to wealth or power or..." She looked at me. "Sorry. No offense meant."

I shrugged. "None taken."

"Oh, here." She handed me back the bit of gold metal. "This should be a little more comfortable now."

"Thanks." I put it back on, shifting my finger back to its normal size. "You were saying."

"I hate this. Of all the kids we met that day, only four of them are left, if you count Derbai. The rest... all dead, along with hundreds of others just since Grystaad joined the U.P." She shook her head a little. "It's not _fair_, Cham. I guess it's just my ego talking, but I hate that-"

"Violet..." How could I be 16 standard, sick of being a kid and feel one hundred standard all in the same moment? It made no sense.

She closed her eyes. "Brainy would know what to do if he was here."

"But he's not. Look... I'll help you. So will Lyle and the others, if you let them. There's an answer. Even if it's physically impossible to work on it every hour of every day. We'll find it."

"Yeah. All right." She looked at me again, nodding just once. "Consider your contract as assistant renewed, Detective."

"Starting now?"

"Starting tomorrow morning. Let's get out of here."

We went down the hall to the lounge, and I fought her to a draw twice, but got pummeled the third time. Then the Trips came in to rest from their studies. Violet was holding all three of them at bay when I pleaded exhaustion and said goodnight.

I expected to fall asleep right away, but instead I lay awake for a while. Thinking about Delse, his homeworld and an unsolved puzzle. I got up and went to my room com, looking over some files imported from the lab.

As people gave up hope of ever being able to live in safety on their homeworld, they left it. Understandable. They were tired of confinement and of fear. I knew a little from my own heritage about the waste and frustration borne of living on a closed world. But Violet was right. It really wasn't fair. Delse's last note to me sat reduced on the desktop: just chitchat stuck to some garishly-colored stylization of an ancient postcard. A view of an ocean sunset in the style of a thousand years ago. There was a message flashing over the ocean in a poisonous shade of yellow: _The waves can tell you._

Intuition prickled at my sensors, but it didn't get far. I was too tired. I jotted a note and sent it down to the lab for either Violet or Lyle to see in the morning: _Of the three survivors besides Derbai, who still lives on Grystaad, if anyone?_

Sometimes in the year after Brainy left, I would sit there and look at the _seboiret_ and want to curse him until I ran out of breath.

Finally, I shut down the com, and got back into bed.

_I'll help you, Violet._ _Even if it's just my ego talking. Or just..._

Her hand sliding beneath mine, and sitting so close to her in the lab that I could feel vibrations of the pulse beneath her skin. I could smell her hair, knew that if I could press my mouth to hers, it would taste like that salt from Imsk that she always stirred into her tea. Small grains that glittered like mica. Something a little sour and sharp, that would make you unceasingly thirsty- and happy to be...

_The waves can tell you..._

My dreams that night weren't anywhere near relaxing.

**End Ch. 3**

("_Attract Mode" is a song by Antietam, available on the CD __Victory __Park__. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Thanks for reading.)_


	4. Little World

**Little World** ('Ti Monde)

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set about 1 1/2 years after S2's "Dark Victory." Cautiously rated 'T' for violence, language, implied m/m, m/f. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome- especially since this is more plot-driven than anything I've attempted writing to date. Virtual cookies and ice cream to anyone who notices a gaping plot hole –or even a minor one- and feels like pointing it out. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )_

3010

_Grystaadians - Dominant species of a world which joined the U.P. in 3007. A thick outer layer of skin the adults possess beginning in late adolescence (fully formed by approximately seventeen years standard) makes them thermophilic as well as physically strong. [see links] In recent years, emigres have been much sought-after as professional firefighters in various U.P. territories._

_No current consensus exists re: the origin of Grystaadians' "fire-proof" power. One popular theory states that the much of the planet's environment was once volcanic and/or prone to frequent brushfires, only to be artificially modified by its rulers approximately four standard generations ago. [see links] - Encyclopedia Galactica dot edu, amended 3009._

For a person who's supposed to be really smart, I get surprised a lot.

Time dragged at first, after Brainy left, but then it sped up. One day, I was working as usual in the lab and saw a glimpse of myself in the smooth white surface of the table. Almost a year and a half had happened to the Legion. I was older, a little taller, too.

Surprise.

One day, my teammate was this cute, sweet Durlan kid with a big mouth and a penchant for pranks. The kid who I was always half-convinced had joined the team on a whim, just as he later offered me his help on a whim- or so I'd thought, at first. Now he was older, too. Cham got taller until he had nearly a full meter on me. He filled out in the shoulders and chest. His face got a little longer and lost most of its baby-roundness. His voice got lower. He didn't seem to become gawky the way that some guys do. I'd watch him sometimes when we were together and I'd think about what it would be like to...

Surprise.

One day, I stopped imagining the lab without him. He brought something to our work that had been missing. He saw things that Lyle and I missed. His eyes picked up patterns almost before they could form. He knew equations and formulas didn't work without people's motivations in there somewhere. Scientists have a tendency to forget that, now and then. I should have remembered much earlier how he and Phantom Girl had cleared Timber Wolf when even Wolf himself thought there was no hope. But I didn't, and...

Surprise.

Sometimes at the end of yet another 48-hour day, I'd finally fall into bed, and the darkness embracing me turned bright instead. It was the color of spiced honey-water that Ruthel would steep in a clear glass jar and leave on a sun-drenched sill. She used it to bake _Tsalk_, back when I was a little kid. But my dreams weren't kid stuff. Cham's arms were around me, in the tall grass somewhere and we would...

I always woke up to find the blanket on the floor, and I'd race to retrieve it before the warmth left over from dreaming could wash away. I would lie there in the dark, the question flashing in my head over and over. _How could I want this: something, someone, so different from the person I had wanted before?_ I would turn over in bed, determined to keep my eyes open.

_This can't be right._

I would turn the other way and shut my eyes. Let go.

_This must be right._

Surprise.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

"Give up?" Karate Kid was smiling from the middle of the gym. He stood in a sea of blue matting, surrounded by the white/gray paneling and shatterproof mirrors. His arms were folded and he looked placid, if a little out of breath. About four meters away, Timber Wolf was sprawled flat on his back, trying to catch his breath. About five meters the other way, Cham was trying to get up on both knees. It wasn't going well.

"_He_ does. _I'm_ fine." They both said it at the same time.

Phantom Girl was standing next to me at the observation window. She started giggling. I was having a hard time keeping my face straight, too. We stood in amused silence for another minute or so as Val helped them each get up. He talked to them for a bit, while he typed some notes on a pad. They both got water and mopped their faces.

Then Phantom gave me one of her patented inquiring looks. "What brought you out of your sanctuary, Violet? You aren't scheduled for another one of Val's, uh, treatments until next week, right?"

"The dress uniform isn't a dead giveaway?" I banged on the window and got Cham's attention, then pointed at the gym clock. "Let's go," I said into the square speaker panel. "We only have twenty-five minutes to get crosstown and you're not even close to ready!"

"C'mon, Violet. Don't pop a rivet. Just meet me upstairs in the courtyard. I'll be maybe ten minutes."

"Ten?" I folded my arms and gave him my best skeptical look.

"Hey, it's a snap when you don't have hair."

"Show off," Wolf muttered. I thought that I heard Val snicker, but then again the speaker system was sort of old and jerry-rigged. I really needed to do some upgrades to it, and soon.

"You look nice, Violet." Phantom and I turned towards the main exit and headed back to the lift. "Only, don't you want to wear heels with that?"

"Maybe to my funeral, Leader Lass. Unless you want to make it an order."

"Hey, now. That's not fair. I'm not Cos, you know." The lift door slid open and we got on. "How _is_ your pet diplomat, anyway?"

I sighed. "Y'know, just because we com back and forth sometimes doesn't make her my 'pet' anything. Derbai broke away from the Junta, and away from her own family. She was a fighter from early on, like you or me. Not anyone's 'pet.' "

Phantom shrugged as we got off the lift on HQ's main floor. "Just let me know what you learn about her planet's new, uh, benefactor." She shook her head, looking unnervingly like her mother. Not that I would have dared to point that out. "What's come to me secondhand... isn't good."

"Will do."

"Where are you meeting her, anyway? Is her little gray shadow coming, too? He's sort of cute, in a haunted warrior-geek sort of way..."

"Don't know. Someplace Cham picked out. The aide's name is Erzah, by the way. He was one of the kids we met that first day on Grystaad. If you're thinking of the slim guy with the silvery feelers and the old-time eye-gear."

"Yeah, he's the one. Anyway, I just came down to make fun of Wolf. I should get back to my reports. Don't let Cham overtip. He always does, you know. Then every time somebody in the Legion goes there, the staff will expect that. It's embarrassing, Violet."

"I think he has to. It's in his religion or something."

"Oh, like Cham's religious! He just likes making the rest of us look bad. Like this time when I was nine and he was six. We were at this resort on Venegar so our parents could attend some boring conference. There was _nothing_ to do. We sneaked out of the Children's Quarters with these two other kids. We went joy-riding in this purple Macavy Floater we found on a dock somewhere, and I totally got blamed later- even though it was _Cham's_ idea!" She rolled her eyes. "My nose got all bloody, and my favorite shirt got ruined, too!"

"That's an amazing story, Phantom. I can't wait to find out what his version is."

"I'm sure it'll be _very_ inventive." She shook her head. "Seriously, promise you'll both report to me as soon as you're done. Okay?"

Phantom was older, too, below the surface. I put a hand on her shoulder. "Okay, Tinya."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Cham had picked the most cliched place he could find near the United Planets Tower. It had garish striped holo-umbrellas over square red tables, along with napkins featuring somebody's idea of Old Metropolis. The holographic ceiling and walls even had pollution over their skyline. The music was that same synthesized four-note drone available in every tourist trap on Terra. Cham knew that I was allergic to places with white tablecloths, string trios and twelve pieces of silverware at every setting. I remembered to thank him, later on.

Right then, I concentrated on finishing my sandwich and chips, even though Derbai's news had pretty much killed my appetite.

"Perhaps it was naïve of me," Derbai was saying as a bus-robo hummed next to her, scooping up our lunch remains. "To expect that you'd be pleased." She stared into her mug of tea. Her suit was immaculate white, with a pale gray collar and sleeves. An elaborate gold bracelet coiled around each graceful wrist, winding upwards. Bracelets were traditional only when Grystaadians came of age, acquiring their humanoid limbs and extremities.

"Well, just a little naïve." I wiped my fingers on a badly-rendered picture of some vanished tower. "Given that Alexis Luthor threatened to destroy the Legion about once a week for years, Derbai. Including several times after she went to jail."

"Violet, I never meant to hide the truth from you. I only wanted to wait until I knew for sure what we'd do." Beside her, Erzah, the aide, was silent and handsomely dressed as always. His suit was a soft gray, one shade darker than his own skin, with white sleeves. His two bracelets were silver, just like the trio of ovals framing his eyes. We were a long way from a bunch of tired but ecstatic kids in varicolored non-uniforms; meeting off-worlders face to face for the first time. I wondered idly when Kal-El's thousand-year-old disguise had come back into vogue outside the theater crowd. Eye surgery would have been cheaper.

"Derbai..." Cham put down his soda. "I'm begging you. Get out of this, whatever it takes. I'll talk to Latham at my father's office. If you need legal help to break this contract with LexCorp, they-"

"I spoke to BrandeCorp last year." She sighed. "Along with two dozen others on seven worlds about undoing the environmental damage to Grystaad. To return it to the way things were before the Junta, and perhaps to help stop the mines. Brande's people were like all the others: very polite, very uninterested, Chameleon. It's a lot of money to spend for very little return, or so everyone says."

"But there must be something-" I began.

She waved me silent. "Where would we be if I dismissed Luthor now? Back where we started, plus everyone saying that Grystaad is fickle and unable to keep its word. Our Representatives Council in Aalt City wants this and so do I. If I didn't agree, it would still be my job to defend their choice."

"Derbai..." I sipped my tea and tried to keep my voice level. "If there's no profit to be made, why did Luthor's people approach you in the first place? Terrain recovery isn't exactly a specialty of theirs."

"Because she's getting out of jail soon. She feels badly about the things she's done and wants a second chance." Derbai held up her hand before either of us could speak. "Legion Friends, I understand your feelings regarding Luthor, but..." She closed her eyes for a moment. "Can you really say, to me of all people, that she doesn't deserve a chance to redeem herself?"

Erzah burst out, "Derbai, nobody blames you for what the Junta did! You didn't ask to be born to the Zirs and to the rest of those thieves, those killers. How can you feel forced to redeem what was never your fault?"

Oh, _that_ brought me some enchanting flashbacks. Judging from the way he snapped a plastic fork in half, Cham was having some, too.

"Erzah..." She looked shocked. "Not you, too. You went and spoke with Luthor yourself, several times. I know that wasn't easy for you- to step back inside a jail, any jail."

Her aide got very busy studying the almost-empty table.

Derbai stood up, pushing back the chair with a shaking hand. "Excuse me. I'll only be a moment." She looked at Cham and me, trying to make her mouth form a smile. "Please forgive us, Legion Friends. It's been very nice, but my aide and I obviously need to speak alone." To Erzah she added. "I'll be back in just a moment. If you would call for the flyer..." She walked off in the direction of the rest room.

I toyed with my water glass, unable to drink. My throat felt too tight. Cham absently reached for the center of the square table, where the payment console was, but the aide motioned for him to stop. "Please allow me."

"Erzah-" Cham began.

"I'm very sorry. I know how hard you've tried. I- we, are sincerely grateful. But if we don't take action soon, there'll be nothing left to save. We can't wait until everyone is either dead or settled on some other world. Derbai won't oppose the Council and I won't oppose Derbai. Please. We want no trouble."

Cham pushed away the broken fork. "Okay then. Let's go, Violet." He stood up. "Thanks for lunch, Erzah." They shook hands. "See you around sometime." He stalked out through the holo of a revolving door, not noticing that his green dress jacket was still draped over the back of his chair.

"Ms. Digby..." Erzah held out his hand for me to shake. Then he reached for Cham's jacket, since it was nearest to him. He fumbled a little before handing it to me. "Best to you." Behind the fake glass, his eyes were unreadable.

"Best to you, Sar Erzah." I walked into the beautiful afternoon where Cham was waiting. His arms were folded, reacting to some chill not actually in the late fall air. I handed him the jacket, and we returned to HQ in silence.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

The day had started out so well, with our leader in a decent mood and me with the perfect excuse to watch my assistant get all sweaty in baggy shorts and a t-shirt. Now it was the kind of day where some huge enemy attack one system over would have been an improvement. Cham and I buckled down in the lab after reporting back to Phantom Girl. Naturally this meant that we ruined her day and the Founders' day as well. They all went off to a conference room to chew over the news about Luthor. Since Lightning Lad was Phantom Girl's deputy, I suppose his day got ruined twice over.

At 1700 hours, Cham went over to the food hall and came back with vegetable soup and bread for us both. We sat across from one another at the lab table, our usual habit on busy days. We had long since changed back to regular uniforms. He had Invisible Kid's music on the main com, turned low. I decided not to put my foot down, just this once. Things were hard enough, and besides, I didn't have the energy to argue over trivia.

Of course Invisible Kid, like the impossible person he is, waltzed in two hours later in high spirits, waving around a clear envelope of discs.

"Violet! Cham! We did it!" He strode over to the main com and turned the volume up. I immediately snarled at him, marched over there, and shut the music off.

"Did what?" We both spoke at the same time.

"Got the last of those encryptions from Delse's sound files cracked." He was loading something new into the system. "I called in about a dozen favors with SciPol, so I hope you two appreciate it."

"I take it you made backup copies before you trotted them off to SciPol," I said.

"I take it you haven't heard the news about Luthor and Grystaad," Cham said.

"Yes, we have back-up. Three sets." He handed me the envelope and walked over to Cham. "Yes, I heard about Luthor, but pretty soon none of that will matter. Screw Alexis."

"Switching teams, are we?" Cham muttered. "Have you broken the news to Condo yet?"

"You're as bad as Violet." Lyle went over to the nul-grav hotplate in the corner and poured himself a mug of coffee. He drank the whole thing in about three gulps and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Cham stared at him like he'd lost his mind. "Lyle, that coffee was old enough to vote five hours ago."

"So?" He tossed the mug in the lab sink and dragged an extra stool over to the table. "Look, just watch this, okay?" He motioned at the ceiling projector. "Computo, run G-7979."

An image appeared in bright green against black: The outline of a humanoid figure. Then two molecular structures appeared next to it. One red. One purple. In the figure's midsection, a third structure appeared in white.

"Do you see what I'm getting at?" Lyle pointed.

"All those damn flowers we saw on our field trip." Cham motioned at the red and purple. "Am I right?"

He nodded. "Violet and I both worked on isolating the compounds."

"Thanks for that, at least." I considered the image. "So these two compounds –which were introduced via the pollen of either non-native or heavily genetically modified species- are altering the brain chemistry of the Grystaadians; making them wander into minefields?"

"Not quite. Computo, G-7980." We watched as the three structures merged into one, comprising three colors and three sets of properties. The colors flowed into the figure like lava, then blended. The figure blinked and dissolved altogether. "It's not brain chemistry that's most important here. It's the reaction taking place inside the body's respiratory and circulatory system; turning the Grystaadians' natural heat-proof qualities against them. These compounds are literally interacting to cause a kind of... kind of explosive combustion from within. See what I'm saying?"

Surprise.

I felt dizzy. "Th-there've been no new mines at all? I-I've been looking for something that wasn't even _there_?" I reached a hand up and touched the space where the figure had been. "Unbelievable."

Lyle nodded. "Very few of the post-Junta casualties are from mines. That's what came from your friend's information, Cham."

"Delse must have been gleaning it from some archive he found at a jobsite. Or maybe there was a network of other people using him as their courier. Something left over from before the old government fled. Maybe both."

I touched his shoulder. "You guys didn't exactly get to discuss that."

Cham shook his head. "He was scared, I think. Maybe he didn't trust the new government, and he had no secure means to communicate. So he finally sent me that damn postcard in hopes that I'd take the hint. Why the hell did it have to take me so long?"

"Look, let's not beat ourselves up," Lyle said. "This kind of warfare has been illegal in U.P. territories since half past forever. I didn't exactly think of it right away, either, even with all Violet's data in front of me. Plus, the Junta killed off most of Grystaad's doctors and scientists decades ago. The planet's pretty short of people both willing and qualified to go out and risk death- just to gather post-mortem data on the ground. All the information from those sims Violet's been running came from aerial imagery, remember?"

"So this potential for becoming literally a living mine is lying dormant in virtually every citizen?" I rubbed my eyes. "Damn it. Then what's preventing even _more_ casualties?"

"Maybe each person assimilates the toxins differently?"

"Not exactly, Cham. Computo, add Hypothetical Control C." Nine more outlines appeared, each showing a slightly different configuration of the tri-colored compound. Now run Simulation 7-C." The nine controls suddenly began to lose the red and purple coloration in their systems, until it faded to pinpoints here and there. A calendar below showed elapsing time.

"These are emigres," said Cham, studying the names. "Once they're off-world, the system gradually cleanses itself and the risk disappears, or at least goes dormant. Is that it?"

Lyle nodded. "I think so."

"Which would explain why no emigres have died," I said. "Derbai, Erzah, and the other two survivors of the squad we met that first day… They're all expatriates, or else they spend a negligible amount of time on the homeworld."

"One problem, though." Cham's eyes were fixed on the images. "I don't buy the deaths as just random. People aren't dying in the cities, the old regions where the Junta wanted their people to stay. Landmine or bio-mine, deaths didn't happen cityside, even during the peak of the rebellion when there were heavy casualties from other causes. Lyle, Violet..." he concentrated for a minute. "There's got to be a fourth component, or factor that hasn't turned up yet."

"How so?" I should have been focusing better, but the long day was catching up with me.

"We know from SciPol that not everyone who's perished in the last four years had reason to be where they were. When they died, I mean." He swallowed hard. "Delse had no reason. He was a construction worker. Not a surveyor, not an agri-tech, nothing like that. I've never understood what he was doing out there, unless he was trying to gather information on previous casualties."

"Yeah. I can't really buy that many suicidal hikers, either," I said. "Some instinct told them to quietly walk away from the midst of whatever and just wait for death?" I shook my head.

"Those people have been through a lot. Even with counseling and all, couldn't some of them have just snapped?"

"Not Delse," Cham insisted. "He had people depending on him as a courier. I'm sure of that."

"Cham, you're not exactly objective, you know?"

"Oh, _fuck_ objective, Lyle!" He put his head down on the table for a minute. "Okay, I'm sorry. You've both made this huge breakthrough and that's great." He sat up and shook his head. "But there's still some missing piece to this puzzle. Even minus the always-timely question of what the hell our dear old friend Alexis Luthor is up to."

"So what happens next?" I said.

"What happens next is that I clear out of here." He stood up to go.

"Cham, please don't-" I took his arm.

"Violet, I said I was sorry."

I must have had a Dream Girl moment. Something made a chill run down the back of my neck; one that kept right on going until it reached the floor. I put my arms around him. _Great. Some 10th-level mind __**you**__ are, Digby._ "Cham, just don't run off and... "

"Do something stupid? Disappear?"

I let him go. "Reep, I didn't mean..." Somehow my hand found its way to his face. I touched his cheek.

"Salu, please don't worry. My running-off days are over, I promise."

"Sure."

He hugged me so hard that he almost lifted me off the floor. "Really, I just need some time alone to think. Okay?"

"Okay." I kissed the spot where my fingers had been just seconds ago.

Surprise.

It was only after the door slid shut behind Cham that I remembered Lyle even existed. I spun around, only to find that he was over at the main com, his music program lurching merrily away at its usual volume. He wasn't looking at me, just singing along in the Acadian French he liked so much. Later on, I would find out what the words meant.

_...You said you would stay with me ...But now I see that you're not here, Babe ...You can tell your parents, Babe ...You can say you did me wrong_

_...Oh, dear Little World ...You know I've had the blues just for you ...Oh, Little World._

I really wanted to empty the coffee pot remains over his head. I'm still unsure as to why I never did.

**End Ch. 4**

_("Little World" aka " 'Ti Monde" is a traditional Cajun song. Translation above by Sharon Arms Doucet from the Beausoleil CD Cajun Conja. Different versions by many, many groups are widely available. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Thanks for reading.)_


	5. Constellation J

**Constellation J**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set one and one-half years after S2's Dark Victory. 'T' for violence, language, implied m/f, m/m, f/f. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )_

3010

_The Myar Stabilizers – Popular nickname for seven holo-filmmakers [see links] who settled on Earth in the years leading up to their home planet's decade-long civil war (2594-2604). Famed for their meshing of early Earth cinematic traditions with their own planet's alchemical legends and motifs. Only a few of these films survive intact today, though others have had missing or unfinished portions reconstructed by fans and students of the form. Insertion of these extras into official versions is a source of considerable controversy amongst experts and academics in the field – Levy Paulson, __Concise Guide To Pre-Collapse U.P. Cinema_,_ 3005 edition._

Who the hell was buzzing me at this hour?

It was barely dawn, according to the clock. I sat up on the edge of the bed. Still in uniform. Last night's book pad was on the floor. I bent down and picked it up.

The door buzzed again. _Damnit_. Wishing whoever-the-hell-it-was away was clearly not going to work.

"Computo, lights at 50%." I rubbed my eyes. "Urk. Change to 25%."

Another volley of buzzing. "Chameleon Boy?"

Lightning Lad.

"Yeah, yeah. Not exactly fresh and lovely here. So enter at your own risk."

He had perfect hair, an immaculate dress uniform, two coffee mugs, and a big smile. I remembered from a day-old bulletin that he and Saturn Girl were getting a week's leave in a few days. I felt personally insulted that anyone should be so happy when I felt so much like crap.

"Your smile is too loud," I slouched over and groaned into my own hands. "And your voice is hurting my eyes. Please stop."

"Cham, if you're gonna' wake up like this, at least have a drunken bender for a few hours beforehand. Otherwise what's the point?"

"Drunken benders are overrated. First thing I learned in boarding school." I managed to stand, more or less. "What's going on that couldn't wait for the alarm clock?"

"Schedule change." He plunked a mug down on the nightstand. "Drink this and get yourself together. We're leaving for Takron-Galtos in forty minutes."

"That'll cost you two coffees and three cardamom twists- the big ones." I yawned, stood up and bent over, then back to stretch my spine.

He snorted. "Just get moving. I should've sent Cos after you. You deserve it. I'm just too nice. Yeah, that's always been my one weakness..." He was still talking to himself when he left.

I barely remembered to disrobe before I got into the shower. My dream-fog had mostly lifted by the time I was cleaned up and in a fresh uniform. Thankfully. Most of my dreams had been... not very pleasant ever since our talk with Derbai last week. I knew that she and Violet were no longer in contact, and that Violet was worried about her/for her.

Damn. My green jacket had a few loose threads. I swapped it for the black vest, grabbed the coffee Garth had left for me, and ran.

By the time I reached the lift and got down the first sip, the fog had vanished altogether. _But don't get me wrong, Alexis. You're __still__ an asshole for waking me up._

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

"Oh, Hello." Luthor waved as best she could with her cuffed wrists, as we all filed in. She was in prison garb, but her hair had long since grown out from when she'd lost it during her idiotic run-in with The Legion- before my time. It was coiled around her head, apart from one curl loose on either side of her face. She gave Violet a particularly appraising look and a beaming smile, until Violet flinched and looked away. I stifled the urge to get between them somehow. Violet sat down on my right, with Lightning Lad and Phantom Girl on my left.

I remembered seeing her once, at some resort my father liked. From before there was a team, but after he'd moved me off the homeworld. I was six. Alexis was always surrounded by attendants and bodyguards. Almost literally buried in them. They would only let her come down to play when the other kids were gone. Once in a while she'd wave to us from a distance, her face sort of blank. Maybe it wasn't so surprising that she went a little crazy. Still, she'd tried to kill several of my now-teammates, so I didn't waste much energy trying to like her.

I sipped my glass of water and messed with one of the pads provided by prison security, while two attorneys did the usual dance that the small gray conference room was set up for. Zora, Alexis' Counsel, was maybe five meters tall; about fifty standard and light-skinned. Her outfit was royal blue, including her huge, puck-shaped headdress. I was amazed that she didn't tip over. Our Counselor, Serrc, was Braalian, an acquaintance of Cosmic Boy's. Middle-aged with brown skin and curly dark hair that was graying at the temples; a suit drab enough to make him practically blend in with the walls.

I ran on automatic, until Alexis stood up and started reading, after a fashion. "I, Alexis Luthor, as signed and notarized below, hereby state and affirm that I have not in any way trafficked in banned technology or meddled with the sovereign government of any United Planets territories etcetera and so on and so on..." She yawned and sat down again.

"Counselor Zora, does your client understand that she should co-operate with procedure should she wish us to rescind our request that her parole be postponed?"

"Yes, Counselor Serrc." Zora flashed her client a despairing look. "Please, Alexis."

"Oh, Zora." She rolled her eyes. "This is all so silly. They can see it all right there on the pads. All I want to do is put all our... disagreements behind me, and start a new life doing good for the galaxy." She gave our side a pleading look. "Don't you understand that?"

Phantom sighed. "Sure, Alexis. We understand. Whatever business you have with Grystaad, _that's_ the not-so-understandable part."

"Ms. Wazzo, you've seen all the detailed information regarding the charitable projects that my client hopes to arrange for that unfortunate planet and its people."

"With all due respect, Counselor Zora, none of this explains where Ms. Luthor expects the capitol for her new... charitable venture to come from. Even out of prison, she'll have access to only the funds that the parole board confirms she needs to live comfortably. This will continue until she maintains a clean record for at least another year. If Ms. Luthor would simply agree to a telepathic scan-" Serrc was cut off by a small sob.

"Please, Zora." She sniffled. "They _can't_ make me do that again, can they?"

Zora shook her head. "My client submitted to multiple telepathic inspections during her first two years in prison. Since then, she has demonstrated exemplary behavior. She has assisted in the prison's education programs and-"

"Speaking of 'education...' "Phantom Girl stood up and waved her hand near the wall that she sat nearest to. It ran perpendicular to the clear wall and secured doorway of the conference room. On its other side, six heavily armed guards were watching us, along with anything else they cared to. Phantom took a small remote from the table and cued up an image: a magnified fragment of some body armor. The Legion had collected it the last time we were in Grystaad's sector.

Violet had shot the images weeks ago. Now she stood up and joined Phantom. "A study of this piece and its components clearly indicated century-old tech." The image lacked the typical boxy pathways and angular microcircuits she usually saw on her explorations. Instead, there were coils and whorls of circuitry in fine blue wires, punctuated here and there with small colored ovals resembling stained glass. The connective points between the circuits were triangular welds of a type even experienced techs rarely saw outside of a museum.

Phantom changed the image to an overlaid drawing of the system, with notations here and there. "In recent years, SciPol has only seen tech of this nature at the sites of Scavenger activity." They both sat down again.

"The attack that got us this little treasure took place three months ago." Lightning Lad gestured at the image. "Virtually right outside Grystaadian space, while several Legionnaires were trying to escort a relief ship planetside."

"It wasn't much of an attack." Phantom held out the remote and the images vanished. "We have the footage taken by a passing news crew from Eris, if you like explosions where nobody dies." She ignored the dirty look that Alexis gave her.

Zora typed something on her own pad. "Legion, Counselor. This isn't a trial. It's not even a hearing." She looked up. "We agreed to meet with you out of respect for the Legion. These insinuations are hardly indicative of respect."

Lightning Lad stifled a snicker. Phantom Girl shoved his shoulder.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"You agreed to meet with us because it looks good to the press _and_ your board if we rubber-stamp her early parole." Phantom wasn't giving them any quarter.

Serrc added wearily, "Zora, you don't get to have it both ways. Since this isn't a trial or a hearing, my clients are free to ask whatever questions they wish. You're naturally free to not answer them, of course."

"These attacks against relief groups are impeding Grystaad's recovery. The Scavengers look to have a major role in the attacks. Yet Grystaad's technology couldn't possibly be of interest to them." Phantom folded her arms.

"Unless The Scavengers have taken to cuneiform and abacuses," Violet said. "So it looks as if their main function is to deter assistance. They don't seem to work very hard at actually getting down to the planet's surface."

"Meanwhile, here's your client, a one-time benefactor of Scavengers, suddenly stepping in to offer Grystaad help. See why that would kind of make us wonder?" Lightning Lad looked over at Zora.

Luthor leaned over and whispered something to Zora, who nodded.

"You just don't understand." She sniffled and tried to wipe her eyes. "It's exactly because of all the Sca- It's exactly because of things like this that I want to help. I could balance the scales, you know?"

Serrc's brows went up for a moment as he hurriedly keyed something. "Counselor, has your client just admitted to knowing of Scavenger activity near Grystaad?"

"Serrc, really." Zora shook her head. "Your client Ms. Wazzo said herself that there's been news coverage of the event, and others like it. Prisoners _are_ permitted to keep up with the news, you know."

"Actually, not quite." Phantom Girl smiled brightly across the table. "Most news orgs dismissed complaints of Scavenger activity there until just recently, despite people's speculations on web unis and indy sources. That news footage is the first that's been taken- it hasn't even been broadcast yet. The big feeds didn't seem all that interested until they saw _us_ there."

Lightning Lad grinned. "Everyone loves watching a good firefight at dinnertime."

Zora leaned over and whispered something to Luthor, who whispered something back.

"I'm sorry, Legion, Counselor Serrc. I'm afraid this discussion is over now."

Phantom Girl whispered in Serrc's ear, and he nodded as he typed. "As you like, Counselor Zora, Ms. Luthor. We will recommend to SciPol that Ms. Luthor not receive early parole."

Alexis sniffled some more as they got up to leave. A guard came in to collect the prison's pads. They'd transcribe the information and print it out for us before we left. Phantom and Garth talked in low tones with Serrc for a few minutes. I waited with Violet.

"Great seeing you again, Shapey Kid." The mask slipped as she eyeballed me. "That's what they call you now, right?"

I sighed. "Your charity's kind of under a cloud, Alexis, and you haven't even gotten so much as a brick or bolt planetside yet. Maybe you should step back and let somebody else give it a try."

She glowered at me. "Is your old man rethinking the pittance _he_ sent?"

"Sorry, but he and I have an agreement. I don't second-guess his decisions and he doesn't second-guess mine."

She rolled her eyes as Zora motioned to her. "It's time to go, Alexis."

As I turned away from the table that divided us, she moved close and whispered, "God, I can't believe that you've managed to get even uglier." I was last in line behind Violet. Alexis managed to whisper something to her as well, before Zora lost patience and literally pulled her away. For such a little thing, she was strong. They lurched down the hall in front of us, the guards running to catch up.

"You've looked happier, Cham." Violet gave my hand a squeeze as the guards guided us back towards the ship.

"I never got my second cup of coffee." I squeezed her hand, too. "By the way, what the hell did she say to you?"

"She wanted to know how do I 'like my present?' " Violet shivered. "Don't ask me what that's about. I honestly don't know."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Lyle was away on a mission. Violet had gone window shopping for some gear she wanted. So I had the lab mostly to myself that day. After a while, I craved a change of scene. Since the weather outside wasn't great, I fixed myself some of Lyle's coffee and went over to the library with some guides I had queued up on my book pad. Violet had cross-matched The Scavenger tech we'd seen earlier with a huge array of mechanical and computer devices from its probable era.

A few people were already there, researching or just resting between missions. Nemesis Kid was reading something about geology. We nodded at one another. I waved to Element Lad and Dawnstar, who were having some kind of quiet but intense discussion over a holo they were running at table-size in the corner. Something about forests on Dawny's homeworld. It looked interesting, but I didn't step close enough to hear or see much. I had other business.

I was just hitting _S-Z, combat-related_ in the index when Saturn Girl came in.

"Chameleon Boy." She smiled and sat down across from me.

"Saturn Girl. How's it going?"

"Oh, pretty good. Thanks." She had a look that I knew well. The one that said _you never come to my office anymore, so just remember I'm there if you need me, Kid_. She didn't actually need to thought-cast it my way; not after all this time. Imra was all about diffuse illumination when it came to her friends. She saved the blinding whites for her enemies. "I suppose this morning could've gone a little better for you?"

I shrugged before deciding to turn the tables on her, just this once. "How about you, Saturn Girl? You must be frustrated that you can't just read Luthor's mind."

"Well..." She picked up a magazine reader off the table, digging through a round decorative bowl for a disc that might interest her. So much for my session with Imra. I wasn't very gracious to her, because somehow, I just couldn't quite bring myself to explain the real problem.

_Imra, I'm afraid that I might be the most selfish son-of-a-bitch who ever lived. Here we are with all these lives in the balance and an old foe about to be free again. But who cares? I'm so hot for my teammate that I can't stop thinking about her. She's just so damn terrific. I'm delusional, right?_

By the time my trance ended, she had the reader loaded and was quietly looking over something about beachcombing. She glanced at me once in awhile, with that look like nothing I could say would surprise her anyway. Possibly Lyle hadn't been able to keep his trap shut about the other day. Oh, who was I kidding? It was well beyond "possibly." By the time I'd finished my coffee, Lightning Lad had come in and they were speaking in whispers. He was holding her hand and looked even happier than he had in the morning. Any minute, they were going to burst into a love duet. For all I knew, so were Jan and Dawny. Nemesis Kid was probably researching a mash note he was writing to Blok, or whatever. I got up to leave.

"Cham!" Lightning Lad stopped me before I could get very far. "Hey, Buddy." He pointed at the pad, which I'd left open on the table.

"Oh, thanks." I reached over to pick it up. Saturn Girl glanced at the diagram on the screen and looked surprised. She picked it up and began looking at some related pages. "Cham, sit back down for a minute."

"What's going on?" Lightning Lad tried to see what she was eyeing.

"There are mind-control devices in this section. A lot of this tech originated on Titan, but it was banned years ago." She looked at me.

I explained how I was still combing around for anything that might explain Delse's- everybody's irrational behavior; victims who just dropped whatever they were doing and found a nice quiet spot to await what had to have been an extremely painful, though not slow, death.

She nodded and kept searching.

"You sure it's mechanical?" Garth looked over at me. "Not some kind of drug or something? Not here?" He tapped his own temple.

"Lyle's pretty much rejected chemical substances beyond what we've already found." I sighed. "He's convinced that it's all likely post-traumatic... something. I'm not."

"Well, Shrinking Violet must have an opinion." Garth gave me a sly look. "Or something."

I made a point of ignoring the jab. _Lyle, you are dead seven different ways the minute you get back._ "She's not sure."

"Some of this is also Naltorian." Saturn chewed her lip as she read. "The miniaturization has elements of Imskian tech, too, maybe. You know, there used to be trade between several U.P. territories and Grystaad, even though it was officially illegal."

Garth raised an eyebrow. "The reports don't make it sound widespread."

"Neither widespread, nor long-term." Saturn Girl pulled up another image. "The Junta used to send its own people in disguise to steal whatever they couldn't buy. In the early days, before they completely closed the planet off. It was always a little here, a little there. Not enough for SciPol to really pay attention."

I nodded. "Besides, if a tech company or inventor was already breaking the law, how could they complain to anyone if a criminal stole from them?"

She stopped reading and regarded me. "You're really convinced of this, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Let me borrow this overnight, okay?"

"Sure. As long as you want. There's a backup copy here and also one in the lab. This is the more complete edition, though. Brainy added a lot of notes to it." I took the pad back after she popped out the disc. "I'll see you two later, okay?"

I spent the remainder of my day in the lab, attending to a bunch of unrelated tasks that I'd been neglecting. At least Lyle was somewhere far away. If I'd come in to find him doing the two-step with Condo, I would have completely lost it.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

A night or so later, a bunch of us were crowded into the lounge, ready to watch a restored holo of _Constellation J_. Timber Wolf had just made popcorn, since patrol had cut into his cooking time. Lightning Lad smuggled in a few beers, even though most of us were technically on duty, and officially required to stick with sodas.

"Don't overdo it, Lightning Lad." Phantom walked in right behind him, pretending to scowl. "Or I'll sic Cos on you."

"It's okay, Mom. I brought enough for him, too."

Phantom Girl glared at him. I shook my head. Some things are eternal.

I had brought down a box of chocolate bars that a client of Dad's had sent me as a gift yesterday. Wolf took one bite and immediately confiscated the remainder of the box.

"Hey!" Bouncy looked furious as Wolf snatched a bar away from him before he could even get it open. "I comb three sectors and about five dozen libraries to find you guys a print of this thing that isn't mud- and _this_ is the thanks I get?"

Purple/Orange Trip also looked regretfully at the lost bar. "What's wrong with it, Wolf?"

"The wrappers are green." Phantom Girl had a field unit on her lap and was scrolling through a schedule for tomorrow's meeting. "Maybe the Emerald Empress sent it and we're all gonna' be hypnotized by tiny little morsels of toasted Emerald Eye."

"Well, _I'm_ sure not hungry now." Colossal Boy handed the popcorn bowl to XS, who sat on his left. "Knock yourself out, XS."

"Thanks." She put away half the bowl in about a minute, before passing it over to me on her left.

"XS, can we get you a sand shovel for that?" I fashioned my right arm into one and stirred it around in the bowl.

She stuck her tongue out at me. "You're just jealous because even your cheetah form can't outrun _me_."

"Says who?" I demanded. "Ten or eleven training sessions don't prove anything."

"The sun was in his eyes," muttered Purple/Orange, cracking open one of Lightning Lad's beers.

"Did you even wash that hand?" Garth yelled from the end of the other couch.

"Yeah. You wanna' inspect it, Deputy?" I stretched it out about ten meters so it would be right under his nose.

"No!" He shoved my hand away, and I laughed at him before returning it to normal.

"Wolf, seriously." Karate Kid pulled up an extra chair next to the couch and stretched each of his legs before sitting down. Like a lot of us, Val was taller now than he had been when he joined up. "Why can't we have any chocolate?"

"Because this stuff is way too good for such a... a..."

"...pack of wolves?" Purple/Orange had an arm around Bouncy, who snickered.

"Exactly. I'll bake up some tortes or something with it later." Wolf marched off in the direction of the kitchen with the gold-colored box clenched firmly in his claws. "Don't start without me."

"You want a soda?" Nemesis Kid handed me part of a six-pack, and then immediately blew the mood by adding. "How can you all be into this stuff? The Stabilizers were old-hat on Myar by the time dirt was invented."

I shrugged and took a soda, then passed the pack to XS. "I read the book. Thanks for the drink." He nodded and went to sit on the other couch.

Wolf came back and squeezed in next to Phantom. She wasn't looking at him, though she was sipping a soda and smiling a little as she added something to the schedule. "Hey, where's White Trip?"

"Studying," said Purple/Orange. "It was her turn."

"Violet, how's it going in there?" Bouncy gave a light tap to the nul-grav projector that floated a meter in front of him.

She popped out from the disc-shaped base a few seconds later, at about baby-mouse size. After flying over to the couch arm on Jenni's left, she settled there before growing to about twelve centimeters tall. "We're good, Bouncy. Everything checks out."

"Whew." He wiped his forehead. "I had to dig this thing out of mothballs in the basement. Nothing else had the right specs for such an old flick." He lowered the big wraparound screen with some antique-looking remote from who-knew-where, cued the holo and added, "Computo, lights down."

A half hour into the movie, just as the huge showdown between two warring temples was getting good, XS stood up and whispered to me, "Gotta' go. Patrol." She gestured at Violet. "He's all yours." Violet blushed as she grew back to full size and sat down in the vacated space. "Um... Thanks, Jenni."

_That's Number Eight for you, Lyle. So help me._

XS gestured at Colossal Boy, who looked disappointed as he followed her out.

An hour in, the priestess was pledging her love to the spy/prophetess, unaware that their mutual enemies were evesdropping. I could have sworn that I heard Nemesis Kid sniffling, but maybe it was somebody else. Violet had fallen asleep for the second time, and I didn't have the heart to wake her up again. I just sat there in the dark with her head on my shoulder. At least the ending on the screen was one I'd prepared for. I tried not to think about any others.

**End Ch. 5**

_("The Constellation Jeeves" is a pop tune from Stew's __Something __Deeper__ Than__ These__ Changes__ CD. Lyrics posted to my LJ. This fic is about to go into overtime, but I'll try not to make it drag out forever. Thanks for reading.)_


	6. The Good Life

**The Good Life**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set one and one-half years after S2's "Dark Victory." 'T' for violence, language, implied m/f, m/m, f/f. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )_

3010

_...daughter of two-term U.P. President Winema Wazzo [see links], was elected Legion team leader in '09 and '10, but rumors persist that she will not seek a third term. ... In other news, the Representatives Council on Grystaad is currently debating the possibility of reinstating martial law in its urban sectors. ...speculation by well-regarded scientific experts that the environment itself is endangering the health of its citizens [see links] and that risks are concentrated in rural, rather than urban, regions. High-ranking diplomat Zir Derbai could not be reached for comment, being herself embroiled in a scandal involving funds stolen from the planet before... - Galaxy-Planet dot com live feed 11/10/10_

_Jef Lorin: ...with your own scientific division involved, it would be easy to find a counteraction for the Grystaad Effect and save its citizen's lives._

_R.J. Brande: Jef, I'm afraid you're assuming a great deal. My company's expertise is not concentrated in areas involving enviro-recovery, or neurotech._

_Lorin: But you do concur with the Legion's Leader that the problem is both environmental and neurological: some biological holdover from that planet's former leadership. Correct?_

_Brande: Jef, agreement isn't the issue. The issue is checks and balances. The Legion is not my personal... workforce, though some news orgs seem to be confused on that front._

_Lorin: But if you agree with the rumored opinions of your own son, who is also a Legionnaire, why not- ?_

_Brande: Of course I expect to see a good outcome here, Jef. I have complete faith in the entire team, but this isn't about my personal feelings. Brande Corp will not intervene in this matter, and that's final. The explicit reasons why are contained in the Legion's Charter, should you care to sit down someday and read it._

_Lorin: [clears throat] Yes, Sir. Now, as to other companies' interests in the Grystaad situation. Apparently Lex Corp is-_

_Brande: Jef, I'm sorry. That's all the time I have for you today. - Intersystem Business Journal dot ent, excerpt from interview given 11/7/10, Ctar Station, Eris Sector._

We would be landing on Weber's World in less than ten minutes, barring any last minute snarls. It would have been more fun to just fly in under our own power, get up close with the stars and not have to talk shop. Still, the shuttle was more practical. The information we were accessing was safer carried home by hand than left to the whims of the U.P'net. We'd waited months for a crack at this world's unique archives. If we lost or misplaced anything important gathered on this trip, they'd just shrug and send us back to the bottom of the waiting list all over again. Bureaucrats.

"Y'know what this place looks like? One of those cities little kids build out of empty food boxes and straws." Cham stretched and yawned in the seat next to mine.

I had begun the descent procedure and punched in our clearance codes for the sector where we'd be landing.

"Seriously. Their _coastline_ looks modular. I bet even the waves roll in as squares."

I snorted and changed the subject. "How come you were asleep in the lounge again this morning? Y'know, that can't be good for anyone's health, not even a shapeshifter's."

"Is that the opinion of a 'well-regarded scientific expert?' " He smirked, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I don't write for the feeds, y'know. Hey, you must be happy that your Dad 'has complete faith' in you."

He shook his head and yawned again as we pulled into the docking bay. "That's just his way of warning me. If I screw up, he'll reroute my allowance to a gang of museum docents on Eris as a 'goodwill gesture' and make me referee. My aunt works with some of those people. Controllers and Dominators could learn a lot from them, or so she says."

"Aww... Poor baby." I pretended to ruffle his "hair." "But you still haven't told me why you were asleep downstairs."

He shrugged. "I keep waking up with scrambled brains. Maybe I need to move the wind chimes to my other window or something."

"You don't _have_ any wind chimes. You've never even had windows. Nobody does since the last time HQ got knocked down."

"That must be the problem then. Maybe I could sweet-talk Phantom into letting me install some."

"Uh-_huh_. Are we properly aligned with the gateway from your side, Smart-Ass?"

"Yeah. Looks fine."

We found the Data Central Tower of Sector 9, Division 13. Instead of statuary, the buildings had monumental address numbers parked out front on stone plinths or little isles of maybe-real grass. Ugly, but helpful. Without such obvious guideposts, most visitors would probably be doomed to go around in circles for eternity in any given locale on Weber's. Blocky gray, beige or white towers, all barely distinguishable from one another. The city's heart was a maze of circular pathways, overhung with feeder tunnels and airways once referred to as "clover leaves" and "jug handles." Sunlight and moonlight could barely have found a way through, even in a cloudless weather. It was all an open invite to get lost forever, maybe even to some of the people who actually lived here.

After a quick flight up a great many curved faux-marble steps, we cleared a retinal scan and were through the automatic doors and into the main lobby of the building. The interior was warm light brown tones, with pale yellow carpet and matching couches. The disc-shaped ceiling lights were a soothing golden-pink. The music was something low and acoustic. There were winding shelves of ancient books and maps lining the walls, but they were just holograms; decorations to put a restless hand through while you fidgeted and waited.

"Well, this is nice," Cham muttered, doing exactly that. "At least it saves on dusting."

"Dusting is too exciting for these people. Their hearts couldn't take it." A chime from near the far cluster of yellow upholstery made us both look up.

"Chameleon Boy. Shrinking Violet. Welcome to Weber's World." Our liaison emerged from a gap between two "bookshelves" that marked a lift entry. "It's so nice to meet you. I'm Ylen Clavul, of Durla." She shook our hands and motioned us to join her on the lift.

It was a long ride to the top of the tower, so I killed time by studying our U.P.- mandated "information monitor." She was young and pretty, with lighter skin than Cham's and a soft blue suit. Her face markings were dots and dashes, running parallel just above each brow. She gave us a canned spiel about the building's history as she escorted us down a long hall; then into a well-lit research room, with a small island desk in the middle of its yellow patterned carpeting. Her right hand fluttered over a console at the desk, bringing a pair of chairs and readers up from below. "Please be seated. I've already loaded the files you requested earlier via com, and of course a more in-depth search is possible from this locale. If you like." She sat down at the "island" with a bland smile, and waited. Of course the room was micro-cammed, so there was no real privacy. Judging from the way her bright blue eyes swept over both us and the space about every forty-five seconds, I figured that DCT had things well in hand even without cameras.

We'd worked out a good tactic time-wise even before the trip over. One of us would work with the liaison while the other went deep-combing in the computer archives. We could switch posts as necessary. I started with grabbing for everything I could find involving past and current projections for environmental recovery on Grystaad, marking down whatever I thought would be useful to us back at HQ. After a while, I noticed that Cham and Clavul were having some sort of animated discussion in their own language, while he was sifting through oceans of the discs she had provided. She was beaming a lot, for a desk-pilot. Once or twice, he called me over to yea or nay something he wanted to bring back, but mostly I was left alone.

I felt uneasy, and then got annoyed with myself for feeling it_. Keep your mind on your work, you idiot._ I slouched down lower over my directories of last years' archived feeds, so I wouldn't have to see how close the two of them were. I began to dig for history and regulations on several neuro-devices that both Saturn Girl and Triplicate Girl had considered strong possibilities as the "fourth factor" that Cham was trying to find: the probable "trigger" that was causing Grystaadians on their own homeworld to literally ignite from within.

Too soon, the white clock on Clavul's desk started beeping. She stood up, pressing a button that stowed and locked her seat under the island. "Well, you have ten minutes remaining, Legionnaires. I hope this will prove sufficient time, as we'll be needing this room for another research group after that time has elapsed."

Cham said something else to her, holding up two discs for emphasis. She wavered, then beamed at him some more. "Well, I'm sure an extra ten could be arranged as necessary. Just this once."

He went back to loading and unloading discs. "Thank You, Ms. Clavul." He had a look on his face that I didn't see often. I remembered the last time was when he'd pranked Invisible Kid by sitting across from him in the food hall; then transforming into some pop star Lyle had once copped to crushing out on when he was twelve. Lyle had looked up from his soup mug and ended up with half of it on the floor and the other half down the front of his uniform. The whole room had cracked up. It had been compensation for a very bad day, at least to me.

"Perhaps you'd like a beverage?" She was looking at me, hands clasped courteously over her slim waist, the custom hereabouts.

I smiled as politely as I could. "Have you got sourfruit tea?"

"Only soda. Sorry." She looked over at Cham. "No homeworld drinks, either, I'm afraid. My sister in Erriwan promised me a care package last week, but it hasn't arrived yet."

"I'll take the soda, Thanks." I nodded.

"Make that two, Please." He was loading another disc into the viewer.

When Clavul returned, I switched places with Cham so I could look over the list of what he had marked for retrieval. It was very thorough, of course. "Thank You for the drink, Ms. Clavul."

She nodded politely while she made some notes of her own, but the bulk of her concentration was still on my teammate.

I could barely contain myself until we were airborne again. We were two cases of material heavier than we'd been upon arrival. It was a good haul. There was no reason for me to be annoyed with him, but I was anyway. "What in blazes was _that_ all about?"

"What was _what_ all about?" He had the main controls for the trip back. "I got us an extra ten minutes, didn't I? Look, don't tell me that _you_ don't like getting to speak local with somebody once in a while." He made some course adjustments and sat back in the chair a little. "What about- Josh Whatever, at that tech place on Canal St.? You're always _all over_ that guy."

"Josaya Elsby, and so what? He used to be SciPol on Imsk. He knows a lot about security."

Cham snorted. "Right."

"For your information, he's also partnered. With a kid on the way."

"Good for Josaya." He looked over at me. "Hey, guess what?" The dark markings around his eyes suddenly altered and traveled until they assumed the same configurations that Clavul had worn. "Partnered. Legally." Another few seconds and they'd retreated back to their normal area. "Not partnered. Legally or otherwise. Okay?"

I picked up a manual stowed next to my side of the console and pretended to look something up. I knew my face was red. "What _are_ you babbling about?"

"Nothing." He crossed his arms and frowned. "Nothing at all."

Five minutes later, a com from Phantom Girl broke the silence. We altered our route home to New Metropolis westward, to New Central City. Timber Wolf and XS had gone to talk with a Grystaad emigree who'd contacted us through SciPol. It was supposed to be a secured communique, but apparently it hadn't been secure enough. The man's complex had just been attacked, an hour before he was scheduled to meet with our teammates.

We ditched our transport in the nearest open field, secured it with a forcefield, and used ring power to take us the rest of the way into the city.

"Luthor's been out for, what- a week?" The city's riverfront was right below us, a thin spiral of smoke already visible somewhere close by. Cham scowled.

"Yeah, just about."

"She hasn't been sitting on her hands, I guess."

"No, I guess she hasn't."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

We hadn't even touched down in the neighborhood when we saw Timber Wolf and XS flying in from the East; cutting their pre-lunch sightseeing short. Wolf motioned us over and down. We slipped into formation behind the two of them. It was a residential neighborhood not far from the university. Lots of trees, kiosks, statues and parks laid out a mix of grids and winding pathways. A dusting of early snow, and blooms of fire and smoke smack in the middle of an area with student housing. A scattering of observers, who at least had the common sense to be standing well away.

"Let's go!" We were nearly touched down as Wolf bellowed orders. "XS, Cham! Hit each of the side entrances and look for anyone who might be trapped and move them out! Violet, you're with me!" XS vanished, with Cham in big cat guise tearing off in the other direction. "We'll go in the front! Fire Patrol isn't answering our coms and neither is SciPol ! Something must be jamming the signals!" The front door was already cracked off its hinges from the initial explosion. He pulled it loose and threw it out of the way. The smoke was thick. There was dust in the air from where a thin sheet of stone exterior had disintegrated and collapsed in the initial explosion.

"Wolf, what kind of moron attacks a fireproof enemy with fire?" I slipped a folded filtration mask from my belt, shook it open, and snapped it on over my nose and mouth.

"The kind of moron who knows his target's kid isn't fireproof!" Wolf sniffed the air, coughed, sniffed again.

"Jil Eddrun!" He yelled. "This is the Legion! Are you here?" The small flat had only a main room with a kitchenette and a cramped hallway with a door on the left and two on the right. "Jil Kathrai! Are you here?" He slipped past me and ran back and forth in the narrow hallway, trying to track the residents. I had shrunk so I could hover above him and stay out from underfoot. He stopped in front of the bathroom door, which was more modern than anything we'd glimpsed outside. It was white, with a slick metal coating and a coded lock.

"Wolf!" Cham's voice was coming through on the communicator. "We found a guy. Grystaadian. Maybe the father."

"We've got him outside," added XS. "He was at the foot of the upper level stairs, out cold. But he's breathing."

"Good! Cham, you stay there and wait for help!" He was still looking for the child's scent, turning his head rapidly back and forth. "XS, keep searching!" He broke the link. "In here!" He pounded on the door a few times, coughing more and more as the smoke began to trail us into the space. "Hell, my claws can't get purchase! Violet!" I didn't need to be told twice. I shrank down from songbird to housefly size, slipped into the lock and disrupted it. Just as I was getting loose of the interior, the thing popped, sparked and split open. Wolf tore away the mechanism, got a hand into the space it left, and pulled the door free.

There was a small figure crouched in the corner, shivering and wrapped in a pink-flowered blanket. Wolf bent down and scooped the bundle up without waiting for permission. I heard a whimper and caught a glimpse of blue tentacle.

"Is she the only other resident?" I was hovering by his shoulder, waving away the stinging smoke.

"Hope so! Let's get her out of-"

Something slammed into me from out of nowhere. The impact sent me flying into a scratched white wall. First my shoulder struck, then my head bounced and I slipped a few centimeters, before the ring obeyed my command to bring me back up_. Oh, that's gonna' bruise all kinds of places._ I could taste blood where the impact of the strike had made me bite my own lip. My right side was officially a festival of pain.

"Wolf! Violet!" I heard XS over the ring's 'cast. The place is empty except for you! Cops are h-" I lost the rest. In front of me was my attacker, armed, humanoid and full-sized. I'd have to hold his attention, for the sake of both Wolf and his charge. The need for evasive zig-zagging didn't let me make out much about the Jil's guest, beyond _maybe in flex-armor, definitely not a friend._ Behind me, I heard the windows over the bathtub punched out as Wolf bolted with the girl in his arms.

Flames were licking at the sill through which he'd gone. But I didn't have time to think about that. Wolf didn't need this creep on his heels. I yelled and flew at the attacker's eye, both arms in front of me, fists clenched. A gamble, since his face was protected. But instinct made him rear back a little anyway. I looped a sharp right over his shoulder and got out into the hallway. _Good. Forget your gun and follow the flying girl, Stupid._ I ignored the dizziness and pain, shrinking down even more. I slipped into a crack next to a 'port outlet by the "giant's" right foot.

There were sirens outside, maybe, or it was the blow to my head creating echoes. It didn't matter. My opponent was looking around for me and my shelter was definitely on the shallow side. It was also sporting exposed power wires, thanks to the earlier blast. I didn't have much time to act. In a couple of quick motions, I got up to about mouse size, then grabbed a compacted roll of cord -one of Lyle's brainstorms- from my belt. I slipped out and got it looped around his right ankle. He was turned my way, but not seeing me. I was in pain, and I cried out unintentionally. _Damn it._

_Now_ he knew where I was. I had seconds before he raised his foot and took me along for the ride. I gritted my teeth and jerked the looped cord backwards with all my strength, cursing again from what the force did to my shoulder. Not enough to knock him over, of course. But the cord had a "tooth" to it- a rasping texture that sliced almost instantly through armor/cloth and then into his skin. Lucky me, if he _was_ flex-armored, it was cheap stuff- Lyle had done well.

My not-friend yelled and tried to stomp me with his left foot this time, then lost his balance. I dropped the cord and shot out of my corner as he fell over and backwards. Now I was out of the cramped hallway and in the relatively open space of the damaged living room. He moaned, but didn't get up. I grew back to full size and looked around me. My eyes were stinging, though the mask protected my lungs from the smoke. Fire was everywhere now, and I felt dizzy.

"Legion Friend! Be careful!" I saw someone, a blur really- moving through the flames. The blur split in two. Half of it moved to my left side and the other passed me on the right. I heard swearing and the sound of a teleporter. Strong arms slipped around my waist and left shoulder, bringing my feet up off the floor. "Hold on, Legion Friend. This way, then we'll..."

A burst of sound filled my head. It was half-whine, half-hum. It snuffed all the lights out.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

I tried to sit up, and someone gently pushed back on my good shoulder. Something warm and tight sheathed the bad one. My lip was stitched, and a compress was against the hurt side of my head. _Medicus One?_ I strained my eyes in the semi-dark, and saw the Trips looking down at me. All had the same look of concern and aggravation. There were familiar instruments behind them, and the glow of green and white against black.

_H.Q.'s infirmary, so obviously I'm okay._ "Trip, h-how long have... ?"

In unison: "Stay still, Violet. You just got back. You need to rest."

Painkillers were singing me to sleep, but I wasn't ready. I had to know... know... "Timber Wolf... The fire... that girl and her father..."

"Wolf is still on Medicus One with Phantom Girl, but they're telling us now that it looked worse than it really was." White kept a steady pressure on my shoulder. "Stop moving around. The Accel-Press will heal you faster if-"

"- you keep still. The Jils are fine, they're in protective custody for now. Two of their friends hauled you out." Purple adjusted the bandage on my head. "You can talk to everyone tomorrow if-"

"- you get some rest, okay? Everyone's fine." Orange scowled. "Including XS and- ow! Cham, be careful!"

"Sorry, Trip." Where had he come from? "...so glad you're..." Cham's voice faded in and out, but his hand over mine was solid enough.

I blinked and tried to tell him that I was all right. Also that I was sorry for the way I'd been acting when we'd left Weber's World, but maybe I wasn't really speaking. He said something to the Trips that eluded me. They merged and stepped back.

"Okay. I'll just be down the hall, getting a coffee or... something." Luornu's steps faded, and the infirmary's door slid shut.

Cham shook his head. "You're _such_ a damn fool, Salu." He was smiling, but his voice wavered. "Why didn't you just hide from that armored jackass and slip out?"

"He... he was after Wolf. Would _you_ have... hidden and slipped out?" I tried to quirk my mouth's corner. It was numbed and wouldn't move.

"Sure I would have."

"Liar. You're... _such_ a damn liar, Reep." My eyelids were just too heavy. I started to let them drop.

"Fine. Whatever." His hand stroked my forehead. "Trip's coming back soon. Then I can go keep an eye on Lyle for you."

"Okay, yeah... Tell him that cord of his... works pretty well."

He just nodded and went back to squeezing my hand.

"Look, I... Just... Is everyone really...?" I was floating further away. I held his hand, but I couldn't fight the current any longer.

"Yes." A whisper. "Really okay. So rest." Something warm brushed against my cheek, the unbruised one. "Please..."

A kiss, maybe. Or was I just dreaming?

**End Ch. 6**

_("The Good Life" was written in 1962 by Alexander Sacha Distel & Jack Reardon, and has since been recorded by about half the world's lounge-dwelling population. My favorite version is Betty Carter's from the 1988 CD Look What I Got. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Hey! Cookies for the people who voted this fic the winner in Greenie's contest. I hope you still like it as much when it's finally done! Also cookies for Cramer and others at Legion World in gratitude for their help. Thanks again for reading.)_


	7. Stealaway

**Stealaway**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set one and one-half years after S2's "Dark Victory." 'T' for violence, language, implied m/f, m/m, f/f. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )_

Late 3010

_...what we found inside the old structures before they came down. ...hard to describe the value of these old waves in words... ...remains of the last time we could move through the elements freely, without fear. Our rulers couldn't stamp them out, but... What's harder to understand is... -9/08_

_...not just off-worlders, but some of our own people who've gone and won't be back. They're free to say what they want. Just don't believe the stories about her, because that's all they are... If I sound tired, it's only from work and travel. I haven't given up, Legion Friend. Enjoy the waves. Write again soon... -3/09 Tran Delse, private com excerpts._

The day after the fire, she needed to rest. I resisted parking in the infirmary, since I didn't want to annoy Trip. I went on patrol, sat at the monitor, took my turn at laundry, worked with Lyle, read everything my field unit held on the case for the thousandth time: none of which made me sleep soundly, but I was used to that by now.

I woke up so early the next day that it barely qualified as morning, then went up to the roof. Small white trails, my own breath, drifted over the ledge and into the black winter air. After a few minutes' consideration, I turned myself into a Red Copter, the local nickname for a raptor from Winath. It had settled here after some hobbyist had accidentally released a few breeding pairs in one of the Southern provinces, over a hundred years ago. Around the same time that Grystaad had officially closed its doors.

A century is only an eye-blink in the history of galaxies, but it must have passed slowly for people stuck on a homeworld run like a prison. Now they were free on paper, for whatever that was worth.

_Delse, old buddy. How are you this fine morning?_

_Dead, Reep. Still dead. You?_

I was a little smaller than a Terran Peregrine and about the same shape. My feathers were pale yellow with streaks of moss and bottle greens. Except for the bright red "blade" marks across each spread wing. The native Peregrines who lived in the city wouldn't have seen me as prey, even if they'd been out at this hour.

Below me, wisps of clouds rolled over the lights of office buildings and toy-sized vehicles; bridges and walkways banded with lights that looked like a half-sorted array of jeweled necklaces. I soared up and over parks and the tops of buildings where weatherproofed domes shielded flowers, trees and gardens from the elements. Freezing rain settled on my feathers without soaking in. Traffic and voices were just drones or hisses from this far up.

I felt better than I had in weeks.

Memory fell away: the awful clench in my gut when they'd carried Violet out of the ruins of that damn building in NCC; that eternal quarter-minute when I couldn't see if she was whole and breathing.

Flight muted the questions that routinely raced around in my head until they'd practically left tread marks. Was this case still open because of the Legion's pledge: _To protect the innocent...?_ Or was it just because we didn't have enough common sense to give up hope?

It didn't matter that the only person in the Legion smart enough to reach the core of this puzzle was long gone, maybe never coming back. I didn't care that if he came back right now, it would be the best and worst day of my life, all at once. I'd hang suspended in the past for the rest of my days, unable to tell her how much I-

I forgot that I was a coward for not telling her now.

I circled, glided, dove and rose up again for a long time that morning, before heading back to H.Q. Then I took back my proper form. Pitch black was fading to deep blue. The outlines of ships and shuttles began to appear more strongly around their own blinking lights, against the backdrop of sky and buildings. Graveyard workers were finishing their day, while those who catered to the day workers were just getting started. In daylight, I was strong enough to win any fight, if the team was with me. I was smart enough to be versed in the forms and skill sets of species from all over the U.P. There had to be reason, had to be justice, no matter how long it took to find them.

Night and I weren't friends at the moment. Every dream I remembered would have been better forgotten, and vice versa. But night had to wait its turn now.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

"Look, I appreciate that you think the scones are nice to look at." Wolf emerged from the kitchen with a coffee pot and sat down. He filled a couple of mugs. We were alone in the food hall at this hour. "But they're not decorations. I'd suggest eating them while you can. Once Bouncy, XS and the rest of that mob get down here..."

I could accept Wolf in civs: Orange shirt, brown trousers, brown shoes. Except for the yellow and orange bandanna wrapped around his head. The bits of his mane not lost in the fire had been cut off when Medicus One had tended to his wounds. Even his sideburns were cropped back to a couple of centimeters thick. He probably felt half-dressed, but I decided against asking for confirmation. "Thought I should wait for you." I yawned, stretched and took a couple of bites. Only then did it hit me that I was hungry. "Thanks for the invite, by the way."

"You're welcome." He pushed the butter and jam at me while he spooned sugar into his coffee. "So, you gonna' tell me why you're up at this hour?"

I shrugged and fidgeted with the knife. "This is early for you, too."

"Shallow sleep's a side-effect of the anti-burn stuff." He poked absently at one of the bandages that dotted his arms and neck in a few places. "I'll be done with it in a day or so, then Phantom Girl will put me back on active duty." A growl, another gulp of coffee. "At least she'd better."

"These are really good, Wolf. Also, this coffee's about ten times better than Lyle's."

"Please don't be insulting." He was buttering another scone. "Everyone's coffee is ten times better than Lyle's, even chewed straight from the jar."

"Sorry." I stood up. "Listen, I should get back to the lab and finish up that report for the meeting later. See you there?"

"Cham..."

Something in his tone of voice made me sit down again, without being told to. "Yeah?"

"How are things with Violet?"

"She's fine. She'll be back on active duty later today. Trip told me-"

"You know that's not what I meant." He poured us both more coffee.

I avoided his glance. "Then what _did_ you mean? There's no 'things,' okay? Can't people in this block-wide fishbowl just mind their own damn business for once?"

"Uh-huh." He gave me a look like Cos used to all the time. One that plainly said _Just go stand in the corner 'til you grow up, Stupid._ "Here." He shoved a bright blue and green plaid napkin at me, one he'd bundled extra scones into. "Take these along. This, too." He motioned at the gleaming purple jar. "To crave something sweet... It's not a sign of weakness, Cham."

I shook my head and stood up, knowing my face was hot. "Why are you doing this?"

He picked up a magazine viewer next to the coffee pot. "Because I'm your friend, you idiot. That's why. Also because those books you're always so into- Spade on the Brooklyn Bridge, crowing about how he 'never loved,' or whatever. You know that's fiction, right?"

"You don't even know what you're talking about. Spade was San Francisco, not Brooklyn. Plus he never said that. Holmes did."

He rolled his eyes. "My point is, they're not real, but _you_ are." He waved me away. "Anyway, see you at the meeting."

I was too tired to think up a good retort, so I just picked up my "breakfast" and left.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Cosmic Boy had one eye on his pad, one on me. "All this information is still current, correct?"

"Right." I looked over the scattering of faces in the conference room. "Grystaad's most populous area has seasons that correspond with our own. Both real and 'bio-mine' deaths have ceased there, for now."

"Which proves my theory." Invisible Kid looked up from whatever he'd been writing.

"With all due respect, I-K..." Phantom Girl held up one hand as she spoke. "It's true that toxin proliferation and migration are seasonally reduced, but there's no way to verify that your theory's correct by itself. " She looked out at Trip, who was slouched over her coffee. Bouncy grinned and gave her a gentle nudge.

"Oh, sorry." Trip sat up straighter and mumbled under her breath, "Whose turn is it? Oh, yeah." Orange split off from the other two and glided up to the front of the room. She took the remote I handed her.

Timber Wolf considered his own pad, then looked at Lyle. "You're figuring on the two substances you and Shrinking Violet isolated, combined with the body chemistry that gives adult Grystaadians their super-powers, are the only things at work here?"

"People stay put because there's no 'chemical cocktail' telling them to do otherwise?" Tyroc wrote some notes of his own.

"Exactly." Lyle folded his arms. "A lot of people agree with me, too. Look, Grystaad's Council is still evenly divided on imposing martial law; so you know that's not the reason, because people are free to travel out of urban sectors. Only they're not feeling whatever... compulsion they felt before."

"A lot of people _don't_ agree with you." Shrinking Violet rubbed absently at her shoulder. It was in a light brace, a formality that Trip had insisted on for the rest of the day. Her other wounds were just memories. "At least half the Heisenberg System, for instance. Besides, it's only recently that SciPol and the rest have even begun sorting data with seasonal influences in mind. They still can't guarantee its accuracy, either- given manpower limitations."

"Fine. But that still doesn't prove you and Cham are right about-"

Orange stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled, making everyone bolt to attention, except Bouncy and her two "sisters." They were already waiting quietly.

"People..." Phantom Girl was sitting a few meters from me on the platform, arms folded. "I only have a few more weeks to go as leader, and I'd really like to get through them without having to knock anyone's skulls together." She glowered at both Violet and Lyle.

I managed to cover my mouth before smiling, but just barely.

"Thanks, Phantom Girl." Orange cued a circular image: A varicolored group of devices, each enlarged to the size of her fist. Once, twice, they spun like a carnival wheel and then stopped. "Shrinking Violet, Dream Girl, Saturn Girl and I have all been working with our own records and SciPol's; trying to narrow down the possible candidates for a mechanical 'fourth component'- Some kind of miniaturized neuro-tech that could be the catalyst. The current list is down from two thousand to twenty."

"Wow." Star Boy shook his head in amazement, then smiled at Dream Girl. "That's all based on analysis of tech possibly available planet-side in their recent history?"

Dream Girl nodded. "Well, it's taken us a little while..." She smiled at him, then focused on the image again.

"Right." Orange gestured with the remote, changing the configuration to two rows that showed larger magnifications of the devices. "Also, it's based on the assumption that whatever device, or devices, involved here are external. Not implanted."

"How can you be sure, Triplicate Girl?" Dawnstar looked back and forth from her pad to the display.

"Well, not 100 percent sure. Still, adult Grystaadian skin is extremely tough compared to that of, say, Terrans or Carggites. It has natural defensive qualities-" she replaced the devices with a chart of chemical compounds. "-and a structure unique among known humanoid species. Even assuming that somebody on the homeworld has the medical know-how to surgically slip these things under the skin unnoticed..." She nodded to me.

"The exo and meso layers would reject the implant. The subject would know that there was something physically wrong, way before it suddenly occurred to him or her that slipping off alone to die in a self-contained explosion would be really fun."

"Exactly. There are health complaints from both on-worlders and emigres, but they're usually related to lack of food or clean water, and even those are on the decline now that they're getting at least some help from the U.P. Grystaadians don't even receive vaccines through the skin. Medications taken by mouth are more practical, but ..." Another gesture at the candidates, another look at me.

"...None of these devices could be ingested and stay in the system long enough to do damage." I looked at her, then Violet. "They're not technologically advanced enough. That means we're talking about something inside a building, a vehicle, a piece of clothing, or larger machinery."

Orange nodded, then returned to her "sisters."

"I've spoken with SciPol," Lyle said. "Several times since we had the initial breakthrough. They've been scrutinizing whatever material contributions are coming planetside, but they haven't turned up anything suspicious."

"Well, to be fair, they can't be everywhere at once," said Phantom. "Also, Grystaad's revived Constitution forbids the kind of comprehensive searches that might be helpful. People were invited to submit their own property for scrutiny, but very few responded. Just as very few will agree to medical or psychological analysis."

"Given planetary history, it's not really hard to understand why, but..." I shook my head. "Anyway, that's where we are right now." As I headed back to my regular seat, Violet motioned for me to come and sit next to her.

"Thanks for the scones," she whispered.

I nodded. "Thank Timber Wolf."

"I'm glad he's gonna' be okay." She had her gloves laid out next to her data pad. I tried really hard not to stare as she licked a stray spot of jam off one finger.

I nodded. _Yeah, and I really wish you wouldn't do that next to me. By the way, Wolf thinks you and I should be doing tongue gymnastics on the lab floor after hours. Says it would be good for my mental health. What do __you__ think, Violet?_

"...until Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad get back from leave. That takes care of old business." Phantom looked the room over, then suddenly grinned at Bouncing Boy. She cleared her throat. "So... Any new business?"

Bouncy's face immediately went red, as Trip elbowed his shoulder. "Uh, yeah." They both stood up. "We're, that is Trip- Luornu and I want to... uh..."

Trip shook her head, grinning like a cat at a buffet of canaries. Then she threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek "We want to invite everyone to our engagement party!" A wave of gasps and whispers started to spread around the room "Everyone's com'll have the details by tonight."

"Awww..." Violet smiled as she pushed away her empty saucer and slipped her gloves back on. We followed the others out into the hallway as Phantom shrugged and declared the meeting adjourned.

"Careful, Dreamy," Bouncy was saying. "Those are the only ribs I've got!"

"Sorry." She let go of him, then turned and kissed Trip on the cheek.

"So how many champagne splits do Carggites serve at a party," Lyle shook Bouncy's hand.

"Lyle..." Trip gave him a warning jab in the ribs.

"Hey, Lightning Lad's not here." Lyle looked at me. "And Cham's falling down on the job. Somebody has to provide the bad jokes."

"Only if that somebody wants to be disinvited right now." Bouncy pretended to step on his foot.

"Hey, after everyone's had a split or two, that joke'll be hilarious." Violet gave Bouncy a hug. "Except Cham. He'll think it's funny after three sips."

"Hey, now that's not fair." I gave Trip a kiss on the cheek. "I'm sure we're talking at least five. Right, Trip?"

She rolled her eyes.

As we headed back to work, Lyle was on my left and Violet was on my right. She was reading from her pad, so she was the one who jumped about a meter when Cosmic Boy walked up behind us. "Whoa. Cos, you startled me."

He smiled. "Sorry. It was unintentional." For a half-second, I wondered if he was going to hit us all up for funds to buy an engagement gift. "Lyle, come see me in my office as soon as you've grabbed breakfast, all right?"

"Will do."

Cos nodded, slipped past us, and disappeared around the corner.

"You know what that's about?" I looked at him.

"Luthor." He pulled his own pad from under one arm and began to look for something. "Also that guy from Grystaad who went into hiding after the fire." He smiled a little.

"Eddrun? Why do you look so pleased then?" Violet lowered the pad long enough to look skeptical.

"I'll explain later. You two better have left me some scones," he called over his shoulder before taking off.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

It was getting close to the dinner hour. Funny how neither of us had any appetite.

Violet had given up any pretense of working and sat stiffly in the chair by the lab's main com. The newsfeed was keyed up at full size in the middle of the room. After a while, I joined her.

There was Alexis Luthor, making the rounds for the media one more time. Her hair was up, but still with the big side-curls for a softening effect. She wore something expensive but austere, without any jewelery. _See? I could flaunt my wealth, but I choose not to out of solidarity with my good friends on Grystaad._ There she was in a studio out West, then showing up planetside to shake hands with officials and relief workers, looking gracious.

"What the hell does she want with them?" I tried to sip from the coffee mug next to me, but I could barely focus enough energy to swallow. We'd been over this dozens of times before, of course.

"Redemption." Violet shrugged. "Or something like it, so she can get all her play money back from Lexcorp. If the planet itself's got some hidden treasure she wants, nobody's talking specifics. Not on Terra, not on Grystaad, not on Takron-Galtos, not anywhere."

It would have been nice to believe that she was sincere about what she was doing- but we'd both seen her up close and the vibe was different than it was on camera. The way she looked at you, the way she moved and spoke. There just wasn't anybody home in there unless she was trying to insult or scare you.

"Call me a hypocrite. We're supposed to be philanthropic kin, sort of. But I just can't buy this." I picked up a pad sitting next to Violet and pretended to review something. Looking even non-corporeal Alexis square in the eyes this much wasn't going to make me sleep any better later on.

Violet sighed. "Then I must be a twice the hypocrite you are. I still don't believe Derbai's gone bad- was ever bad, even though her history is even less faith-inspiring than Luthor's."

I shrugged. "You haven't heard from her lately, have you?"

Violet scowled. "No. But I did hear from Erzah. This morning. He 'expresses his personal joy at my swift recovery' then repeats everything going around the feeds and uni sources. If she's among the disappeared for another four days, he succeeds her 'officially, but with great regret'..."

"...While SciPol officially interprets her disappearance as 'flight to avoid incrimination for acts in violation of the U.P. charter' and sets the dogs loose."

She slumped in the chair, pulling off her headband and running her fingers through her hair. "Unless Lyle finds... whatever lead he went chasing this afternoon with the Founders' and Phantom Girl's permission."

"Hey." For lack of any better idea, I put a hand on her shoulder. She sat up and pushed her hair back again, but she looked at the floor, not at me. "Listen, I know you and Lyle can't even agree on why the sky looks blue, but-"

Violet bolted to her feet and started pacing back and forth, still not looking at me. "Honestly, Cham. I'm not trying to run down Lyle. I know he's smart and can take care of himself, but _we've_ never really done this together before. Not seriously, you and me."

Maybe once I could have joked at that. Now the implications weren't all that funny. They were the dreams that I wanted to lock out at night, but couldn't. I looked away for a beat or two as she kept on pacing.

"He should at least have had to give us some details, in case something goes wrong. So we'd know what to do if..."

"Yeah, I know. But he's trying to protect us, Violet. Protect the team from getting a black eye because he's violating U.P. regs out there. That's why we're waiting here to see what happens."

She stopped pacing and leaned against the far corner of the table, dark eyes glittering with some compound of misery and anger: _No one else can leave and never come back. I won't let them!_ "Yeah, I know. I'm not an idiot, okay?"

"Hey, c'mon." I shook my head. "Violet, that's not what I meant."

"Sorry." She turned away and rubbed her eyes for a minute.

"Well, I'm glad you've stopped pacing, at least. Wearing down a perfectly good pair of shoes won't bring Lyle back any faster."

She tried to smile, but it didn't quite take. "Shut that off, will you, Cham?"

I closed the feed, sending Luther & Friends away for a while. "Look, just... Come here and relax for a minute."

"Sure." But she didn't move. A long minute ticked away while the computer hummed to itself. Some project of Lyle's- something to do with an agri-compound he wanted to refine- hissed and popped in the far corner. Her foot tapped against the hard floor. Even in shadow, she was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. With everything happening, still...

"I'm selfish, Cham. Really selfish. Stupid, too." Another minute. Then she quietly walked over and sat down next to me, resting her hands on mine as they sat crossed over my left knee.

I swallowed hard and looked at her. "Don't say stuff like that, okay?"

"Then what _should_ I say? Th- that-" She peeled off her left glove and stroked my face. "Reep, I want..." Both hands traced sensors, brows, eye-marks, cheekbones, and the outline of my lower lip.

_Oh, gods..._

"S-Salu..." I probably smelled like recycled coffee and still had that morning's jam seeds stuck to my teeth. It didn't stop her. "H- hey, I-" Then my mouth was too preoccupied for speech. I got one hand to the small of her back, the other slipped behind her neck so I could feel her hair. I had a dim sense of my antennae moving until they brushed her forehead; a vague hope that she wouldn't freak out or laugh at me.

I didn't have to worry. She took a deep breath, then scissored both her legs on either side of my knee so she was sort of resting on my lap, but with her feet still touching the floor. It was awkward. It was perfect. Her hands met between my shoulders and we kissed again. More than once. When she finally stopped, her face was tinged with pink. She had chased it down, some result she'd been working towards since...

"Are you more relaxed now?" My voice was barely audible, but it didn't matter.

"I owed you for the other day." She got up slowly, smoothing out her skirt. "Y'know, when we got back and-"

An alert beeped on the main com, making us both jump to attention. A relay message blinked to life on the screen. "Chameleon! Violet!"

Invisible Kid. His symbol was a blurred green outline, like somebody had drawn it with chalk on a pocked layer of blacktop. "Co-ordinates to follow! I'm on their heels! Get your gear and move! I'm out!"

Another beep, then the symbol was gone.

"Right." I managed coherent speech, despite my reeling mind. "Ummm... Thanks for paying back all the interest, too."

She grinned, then we grabbed our supplies and ran for it.

**End Ch. 7**

_("Stealaway" is by Fay Victor and _Jochem Van Dijk_, from Victor's CD Lazy Old Sun. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Thanks again for reading.)_


	8. Illusion Suite

**Illusion Suite**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set one and one-half years after S2's "Dark Victory." 'T' for violence, language, implied m/f, m/m, f/f. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )_

Late 3010

_Nimah – Orbits its yellow sun from an average distance of 160 Mil. Km. …Surface was initially 82% water, prior to terraforming begun in the 2900's. [see links] A stopover for shipping, primarily to and from colonies in the Driscoll System [see links]. Less hospitable regions often used by operations at the margins of U.P. law… – Encyclopedia Galactica dot com, amended 3010_

…_possible common ancestry. Neuro-mapping indicates a similar diffusion of structures governing memory and physical sensation. What would be fixed pain or pleasure "centers" in high-functioning static species are mobile in the brains of Grystaadians until they reach the final adult stage, and attendant powers. A similar mobility is noticeable in all Durlan life stages, unless the form is "locked" by illness or other intervention. [see links] – Dr. Parisu Birg, "Mapping Our Minds," [lecture excerpts] Heisenberg 7, 3008._

Lately it seemed as if every answer I found only led the way to more questions. So I shut off that part of my mind for now, concentrating on the scenery instead.

"Sure is beautiful out here." Nimah was swirls of blue and green against starry black space. Surrounding particles gave both the planet and its two moons an opalescent glow. Our shuttle was cloaked and moored behind us on the first moon.

"We'll be down in two minutes." Cham was on my right. Both of us wore plain dark gray. Even our rings and signal belts had their emblems disguised. "So if you're gonna' spout poetry, make sure it's haiku or _idjakra_."

"Be nice, or I won't buy you a drink at the engagement party."

He smirked. "I can't get drunk around an Imskian. You'll film my cells moving around when I'm passed out and sell the footage to some Med site."

"Mocking my planet's culture, _and_ our morals? You're on dangerous ground, Detective."

"Beneath all the glitter, it's a hard, cruel galaxy, Commander. Just trying to help you stay tough."

I made a face at him, as Nimah's surface started to emerge from its particle "coat." Water and land took on distinct shapes. "Cham?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember when Brainy used the identity implanter on you?"

"Uhh…'remember' in what sense? As in, 'Hey, here's fifty pages on what being a super-strong homicidal maniac feels like?' "

"Exactly."

"His notes are everything I know. Knew. A few days after I got better, it was like a nightmare where you remember a few details; but deep down you're sure it never happened. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. Guess it's good that he was so pushy about talking to you."

Cham sighed. "In that 'forgive-my-screwing-up-like-you-mere-mortals' kind of way."

I laughed in spite of myself. "Yeah. I remember what _that_ was like."

"Why are you asking? Not planning to revamp his implanter and try again, are you?"

"Hell, no. It's about Grystaad. I'll explain later." The plate-sized chart that blinked above my ring showed the co-ordinates Lyle had beamed to us earlier. I hoped he was all right down there.

"Glad to hear it. I didn't mind trying to slice up my own teammates, but going shirtless..." Cham shook his head.

"Right, Mr. Modest."

"Forget modest. Imperiex wasn't into central heating."

"Neither is Lyle." I studied his diagram against the backdrop of real live stars. "It's the dead of winter here." I started shivering as soon as we slipped through the clouds over Nimah's Southwest sector, despite my insulated clothes.

"Hey, inclement weather equals privacy. Or do you think he picked this area just to annoy you?"

"How much time do I get to consider that question?"

He sighed. "I'm ignoring you now."

We landed by a salt lake so large that its far shore was beyond sight. The late-morning sun was mostly hiding. Patches of black ice beneath our feet made me glad for the heavy treads on our boots.

"So what's first?" Cham turned towards a ruined steel bridge that had left its middle jutting from the center of the lake. "Shopping, or lunch?"

"Shut up." I smirked and shoved his arm. "Looks like we go about 300 km. across. There's an artificial island there."

"That's what I've got, too."

Imperiex had struck Nimah not long after his first dance with us. This sector had been depopulated even earlier, its industries long relocated elsewhere. Superman X and several Legionnaires had chased off his forces before they could reach the more populous regions. Too bad our business wasn't there, in a warm climate; where there would have been greenery other than metal patina on torn railings and iced-over shore grasses.

My teammate was the most vivid part of the landscape. He was shivering a little himself. "How _do_ you coastal types get used to this much water everywhere?"

There were boats in varying sizes and states of repair, both at lake's edge and further out. Some were half-sunken. Others were carefully tended and had flickering lights, indicating either residents or some kind of remote monitoring.

The water about six meters in began to bubble. I pointed. "Uh, I think we're about to have company."

"No kidding?" Cham took a few steps back, as a bright blue dome broke the water's surface. More followed, and I stepped back, too.

Within a quarter minute, there were six robots hovering ten meters in the air above us. Each a white, tapered metal cylinder slightly larger than my head. The gleaming blue half-domes up top each had a single red lens. Silvery "fins" sharp as knives, a dozen per greeter, whirred at forty-five-degree angles from the flat base of each 'bot, shaking off water.

"So much for seeing the sights!" The lenses lit up. "Move, Cham!"

I shrank instantly as six "eyes" clicked open and fired energy blasts; then veered left, dirt and rocks exploding around me. There was just enough time to see Cham race right, turn into a Venusian flying fish and disappear into the water. Three robots followed him.

I flew towards the lake's center with the other three on my heels. They formed a circle around me, linking their fins together with a series of clicks and firing dozens of bursts my way. _Well, if that's how you wanna' play... _There was a gap between the base of each blue half-dome and each white body. Maybe a centimeter wide; plenty of room for a savvy Army brat from Imsk to slip in, play anti-mechanic and slip out again.

A few crossed wires here, some kicks and punches to a micro-rotor there. I could have done it in my sleep. When the first one blew, its buddies on either side followed seconds later. Conditional symbiotic design like this had fallen out of favor for good reason. I evaded smoking debris as it splashed into the water. To see better around me, I resumed full size.

"Cham?" The sudden quiet scared me more than the commotion had. Weak sunlight was disappearing behind a cluster of dark clouds. I began to fly further out, but I looped back every few meters, searching the waters below. I had the ring's tracker on, but it wasn't giving me a thing. Too much interference.

"Cham!" There was a floating sandbar down and to my right. Logs swayed back and forth at one end, streaming seaweed into the water. A colony of birds rested on the logs, wings folded. My shouting barely disturbed them.

_Damn it._ There were scattered pieces of white and blue, but where was he?

The air in front of me began to shimmer, quickly forming a human-shaped outline.

_Lyle?_ No, this male was taller, and broader in the shoulders. The outline filled in to reveal dark blue plainclothes, a hood covering most of his face. He flew towards me. I glided back, fists out as I put about ten meters of air between us.

"Back off, damn you! I don't want to—" Behind him, I glimpsed the outline of the island where I needed to be, along with over a dozen steadily-enlarging blue-and-white dots. _Great_. More robots. Had this all been a trap, right from the start?

Evading him by heading back towards space was feasible. It was also out of the question.

"The light show's nice." Before I could shrink again, he vanished. The air around him hissed as he reappeared directly behind me. If I'd been thinking clearly- "Not so much the knife-throwing." He got an arm around my upper body, pinning my shoulders and arms. I swore at him, kicked and elbowed backwards as the lake disappeared.

We rematerialized, and I fell to my knees in the semi-darkness. My stomach lurched. I hated teleporting. There was torn carpet underneath me, and the air was a little warmer than it had been outside.

"Shrinking Violet, are you okay?" The tall man was whispering, crouched down on his heels as he pulled back his hood. I saw brown eyes, dark skin, short black hair with a white streak in the center. "Stay down."

"Foccart?" I hadn't seen Lyle's old university buddy since… since Brainiac 1's final attack. It was the last time "Invisible Kid 2" had been called up from our reserves, after Lyle had been injured. "Jacques, what are _you_ doing here?"

"Playing decoy." We were inside a small round observation structure on the island. It had cracked white walls and a low-slung metal ceiling. Its large plex windows were scratched and dirty. Each pane framed dark sky and a blue-and-white shape moving ever-closer. "Damn Scavenger 'bots think they've got us, but it's the other way around." He grinned, pulling a small remote from his shirt pocket. "I've got charges in a circle around this place. In a couple of seconds, the whole thing goes up and we'll be out of here."

"But where's—?" Something small and grayish-white fluttered through a broken window and across the floor, then landed near my hand. A water bird; like the ones I'd seen out on the sandbar, but its eyes were bright green. "Cham," I whispered, and scooped one hand under him. I yanked the hat off my head and tucked him inside.

"Lyle's back on the shuttle," Jacques whispered. "On Nimah's second moon. Your info's there, too."

"Let's go then." My hat was squeezed into a makeshift bag, protecting my teammate. I remembered a similar improvisation from a while back. "Oh, and sorry about attacking you before."

"Forget it." Jacques grinned and pressed a button. I saw fiery bursts even with my eyes squeezed shut. Broken glass and torn metal shot everywhere as we—

Silence.

We were on the shuttle. He helped me stand up.

"You've done a lot of work on this thing since the last time we saw you, Jacques." I unclenched my hand and let Cham's bird-form loose from the hat. He was back to his regular shape within seconds.

There was Lyle, sitting by the console. "Glad you two could make it. Jacques, should I move us out?"

"Not yet." He had moved over to one of the consoles and was running a scan on Nimah's surface. "Just want to make sure all our friends are gone."

"What idiots." A Grystaadian stood up from the other side of the small, curved space and regarded us coldly. "Racing around in circles like a swarm of buzzers." She wore the same dark blue plainclothes as Jacques, and had a black case slung against her right side. Her skin was bright blue, almost turquoise-colored, and her eyes were golden yellow. "Foccart, did you have to wait until they surfaced?"

"Sorry." He directed the comments as much to us as to her. "My sister did her best with our trackers, but the way those 'bots were designed…"

"…You have to feed them to find them, huh?" I grinned. "They were down too deep in the water before?"

"There's a lot of old tech in the lake, and it probably interfered," added Cham. "Forget it."

_Yeah, and I'll forget how worried I was._ "What did you use to break up _your_ followers, anyway?"

"Eastern flat-head mud shark. Do I still have any plastic in my teeth?" He drew back his lips in a mock-snarl. Lyle snickered.

"When you've finished your conference," the Grystaadian pointed at Lyle, "You baby-skinned fools might want to fix that."

For the first time, I noticed that Lyle had a hand clamped over the outside of his left thigh. There was blood seeping between his fingers.

Cham looked around. "Jacques, where's your kit?"

"Right behind Sulvat's feet."

There was a nice comedic moment when he nearly bumped heads with her, as they both stooped for the small first-aid box.

"I'll be fine, Cham. One of those blade-fin things got me when I brought our friend here from the neighboring sector, about two, three hours ago. Just nicked me. Don't know why it's still bleeding now."

"All clear, far as I can tell." Jacques turned away from the monitor. "I'll set a course back to the transmatter station near Eris. That's as close as I get to Earth these days."

"Same old Jacques." Lyle grinned. "All those irons in the fire. No time for play. By the way…" He waved his free hand. "This is Jil Sulvat. She's Eddrun's sister."

"How d'you do, Sulvat ?" Cham had a cauterizing pad and some tape. "Let go, Lyle." He covered the wound after peeling back some of the gray cloth around it.

"Nice to meet you, Sulvat." I held out my hand.

She ignored me. "You know, that bandage is basically useless." A gesture back towards the receding landscape. "There's a hemorrhagic compound on those blades, one I'm told isn't legal here. Back home, the Junta was very fond of it."

I swore under my breath. "Lyle, we should get you to Medicus One. Now."

Lyle watched Cham stand up and close the med-kit, then he looked at Sulvat. "What's the compound, do you figure? Something like an LT10?"

"Try LT23. You'll want treatment within the next couple of hours, if LTs work on you like they work on us. You'll bleed like mad from that wound and all kinds of other places, too. Painful first, then fatal."

Lyle nodded. "I can head out on my own and meet up with you later. Even under flight-ring power, it's less than a two hour trip."

_Jackass._ I shook my head. "You can't go alone. It's too dangerous. First of all—"

"—there's no telling if you've really got two hours." Cham frowned.

"Second of all, you should be protected," said Jacques.

Lyle shrugged. "Nobody will be able to see me."

"They couldn't see either of us on the way here, either." Jacques turned around, duplicating Cham's expression. "They still found us."

"All right, all right." Lyle stood up, wincing. "Let's go then, Jacques. Maybe I can score a cup of coffee on the way."

"Oh, no." Sulvat turned away from us. "Jacques, you don't leave me alone with these— these incompetents who nearly got my only living family killed on Terra."

"For your information—" I began.

"Yes, Yes. I know you and SciPol did your best_. It wasn't good enough_." She narrowed her eyes. "The Junta is locked up for life and yet they still rule over us! If you idiots—"

"Sulvat, please." Jacques' tone implied that it was an old discussion.

"Fine." Her feelers hummed angrily. "Send the Durlan with him."

Cham raised a brow at her. "I just realized… Sulvat, you were there, weren't you? When the Legion first went to Grystaad?"

It clicked in my head. _Can't Legionnaires fly?_

Sulvat nodded. "Do a better job this time than you did with Tran Delse, 'Legion Friend.' "

He flinched. "It's okay, Jacques. I'll go."

I clasped Lyle's shoulder, then gave Cham a quick hug. I was past caring who saw and what they thought about it. "Careful. No tropic joy-riding, okay?"

He rolled his eyes. "When will you stop believing everything Phantom Girl tells you?"

"When she's done being team leader. So… about two weeks."

"I'll punch that into my planner then."

A few minutes later, they were on the other shuttle and gone.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Jacques kept us cloaked as we neared Eris. I tried to focus on the stars, instead of on how irksome our "friend" was. She handed me a field unit from her case; one that was probably a collector's item by the time my parents were born.

"The mountains up North were where our rulers usually hid their archives. Especially in later years, when they saw how the Junta's days were numbered. It was their way of trying to make peace with the gods. We retrieved them when we could; then people like Delse were our relays." Sulvat sighed, then motioned me to turn a few pages.

"You took a lot of risks."

"You mean we had nearly nothing to lose." She shrugged, then pointed to the screen. "Look here. That's what my brother wanted you to know, before he was attacked on Terra."

" 'Before all witnesses, I swear to this: My partner spoke to me while I slept. She awakened me to say that she was alive; that the Junta had lied when it said she was killed in prison. I could hear her, calling me away…' Sulvat, where was your niece?"

"With me, underground further east." She continued. "Eddrun's unit was a day's march from Aalt City. He tried to slip away in the dark. He should have 'struck a mine' like all the others, but…" She began to giggle at something that we both knew wasn't really funny.

I waited.

"H-he tripped and fell in a ditch. Hurt himself. The other soldiers woke up and stopped him from fleeing. They thought it was just battle-madness, hunger, exhaustion…"

"Which isn't what Cham or I think."

Sulvat nodded. "Your theory of some device that placed these lies in our minds? I'm sure it's true. Eddrun's clothes were torn up badly that night. Because he's a big man, it took half the unit to stop him. Somebody threw those rags away, and he never had the vision again."

"But why did you both keep this secret for so long? Somebody like Derbai could have—"

"You still believe in the word of a Zir?" She shook her head. "She was a plant, a spy for her family; not a true freedom fighter. Not some kind of heroine. The war ended before she could move against us. Her good luck was to be on the winning side, physically; but her true self was never ours."

"You have proof of this?"

"I don't need _proof. _I_ know._ Plenty of us suspected her from the start, but the unit needed to stay cohesive or how could we have fought? Derbai had a real knack for sabotage, or else she had extraordinary luck. She won our unit's trust by volunteering for the riskiest work; by going out alone to do it. Some said it was bravery, but _I_ was never fooled."

I waited.

"She went alone because it was all staged." Sulvat's feelers hummed. "She communicated with her family, somehow. Hid their wealth for them, took it off-world. She charmed those idiots on the Rep. Council, too. But her business with that Luthor woman was an over-step. Now everyone can see her as she truly is."

"Sulvat, I—"

She looked away, into her own minefield of memory. "Don't you wonder why nearly the whole squad is dead now?"

Of course we'd wondered.

"She wanted us all silenced! Blood always tells in the end, Shrinking Violet."

It was a good thing I'd skipped dinner. Her story would have brought up whatever the teleporting had failed to.

"Wake up, Legionnaire. Your own ship, that first day, was sabotaged and then shot down. Who could have done that, if not Derbai?"

"Someone you hadn't caught and locked up yet?"

"Never mind." She threw up her hands. "Why should _you_ see past a Zir's pretty words when we couldn't? How do you think the whole planet was first duped into signing our lives over to those monsters?" She shook her head. "Sleight of hand; revealed too late."

It couldn't be true. _Derbai…_ I kept reading. "These look like very thorough translations, despite the language being…"

"Archaic." She sighed. "We weren't supposed to retain our old tongues, but some did anyway." She gestured at the unit. "Keep it. I have copies elsewhere."

I nodded. "You and Lyle made an agreement?"

"My family's somewhere safe." She smiled briefly in Jacques' direction. "We'll be together again soon, and we'll lie low somewhere until you find the last Zir. Dead or alive."

"We appreciate your help." _I think._

"Not _my_ help." She studied her feet. "Eddrun still believes, but I don't. The Junta rewrote Grystaad's very nature. They destroyed our ecosystem, our culture; all of it. They tried to alter _us_, our very cells and forms. It's over. Our homeworld is done."

I knew what Cham would have asked: "But why?" Jacques was franticly inputting something at the navigation console. I quickly shut down the unit and slung its carry strap over my shoulder. "Why do you think they did it?"

"You Legionnaires…" She sighed. "You really believe there's a reason for everything."

"Sulvat—"

"Evil needs no reason. Those who can perpetrate it, will. The Junta treated us like toys; breaking and discarding whatever they wished. Doubtless Luthor is the same."

"But—"

Jacques called over his shoulder. "We should split up pretty soon, Violet."

"Is somebody after us?"

"Not yet, but the longer we wait..."

"Understood." I got up and went over to look at his console. We weren't far from Eris now. "Can you get me to the transmatter gate?"

"I'll try. There's a lot of solar flare activity in the area, though."

"If you keep that unit closed," added Sulvat, "Going through the gate shouldn't harm anything inside. I'm afraid it won't shrink, though."

I nodded.

Jacques swore under his breath. Against the viewscreen's black and white grid, I saw the mask symbol of a Scavenger ship. "They're only ten minutes away, tops."

"That figures." I hoped that my two teammates hadn't also met any of Luthor's pals on the road.

"Lyle and Cham were fine, last time I checked."

"Thanks."_ Am I that obvious?_

"Violet, if it weren't so dangerous for Sulvat, not to mention that—"

"—our unauthorized visit to Nimah could be a problem later." I touched his shoulder. "Just get me as close to the gate as possible."

He nodded. I looked over my shoulder at Sulvat, who had an unreadable expression. Suddenly she darted over to me, slipping off one of the distinctive bracelets that Grystaadians always wore on each wrist.

"Put it on, Legionnaire." Something in her tone made me obey. She looked at the coiled bronze chain and spoke. "I-A 9889."

I felt a flicker of warmth where the bracelet was, then light enveloped my whole body. My reflection in the shuttle console was a tan-skinned female with curly blonde hair. My gray plainclothes were gone, replaced by a pale blue repair-tech's uniform, right down to the cap and boots.

A Solid Light Hologram Unit. "That should make things a little easier." She waved away my thanks and sat down next to Jacques. I looked over their shoulders, seeing the station on my left, and a small black and red ship, barely larger than a dot, on my right. Scavengers. But Jacques could easily shake them.

"Shall we?"

He nodded and stood up, tapping a button that would let Sulvat take the controls. "Be right back." As if he were walking a block to pick up a pint of _estchav_.

She nodded without looking at us. He took both my hands between his and grinned.

"Thanks again, Jacques. For everything." The ship disappeared, and there was the nasty lurch in my guts again. How did he ever get used to it?

I felt stone beneath my feet. The transmatter station. He let go of my hands, after making sure that I wasn't going to just keel over on my pseudo-blonde head. "_Bon chance_, Violet." The air around him wavered, shimmered. He was gone.

The gates to New Metropolis were down a nul-grav slider. It only took me a minute to get there. Sure enough, a blinking sign at the entry way read, "Transport Suspended Due To Solar Flare Activity. Please Locate Alternative Transport Method." _Damn. _I put down the unit, shrunk down and broke the gate lock from inside.

This was a terrible idea, but waltzing back to Earth on ring power? With a case full of vital info and no way to shrink out of sight? That was an even worse one. Just as I was getting back up to full size, two real repair-techs came down the slider and saw me.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?"

I ignored them, tapped the gate control, and stepped through a thousand flickering tints of gray and white.

"Hey, you can't—!"

"Emergency!" I yelled over my shoulder. There were strange noises: high winds mixed with rocks striking a gong. My body got what felt like a million jabs from hot needles, but that ended after a second or two. Then I was back in New Metropolis. The unit and I both seemed whole and unhurt. I crept down a corridor, then in with other travelers as they moved towards the street. My insides were a confused jumble of answers, questions and their attendant sensations. Only some of which had to do with the case itself.

There was a decorative pool near the lift, and as we rose into the air, I caught a glimpse of my false reflection. A short code could fix that the minute I was crosstown. Dealing with the other illusions was going to take more work; and we were running out of time.

**End Ch. 8**

_("Illusion Suite" can be found on Jane Bunnett's__ Spirituals & Dedications CD. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Thanks to the usual suspects at Legion World for their assistance. Yeah, two Invisible Kids are better than one. :p Jacques, like my takes on other characters, is a total mash-up of various incarnations. He had a blink-and-miss-it cameo at the very end of S2. Thanks again for reading.)_


	9. Red July

**Red July**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set one and three-quarter years after S2's "Dark Victory." 'T' for violence, language, implied m/f, m/m, f/f. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )_

Late 3010

_Brainiac Five – Codename of Dox, Querl. Member of the Legion of Superheroes [see links] from 3002-3008. Estimated year of birth 2090. Information regarding departure from Earth, along with current whereabouts, is unavailable. - U.P. Law Enforcement Guide (Glossary), 3009 ed._

Getting Lyle to Medicus One in time turned out to be the easy part. Explaining what brought us there? Not so easy. Violet and I had rehearsed a story with Lyle at least twice in meetings with Cos. Then the two of us had run through it again on the trip out. I just hoped that I could keep all the details straight.

The guy at the intake desk fed me some questions off a display; looking mildly interested, between glances at the clock, at least. He tapped out a few codes and listened to the com-plug in his right ear. "Your friend'll be fine. He can leave in 24 hours. SciPol'll be out to speak with you in— Oh, that's her now." He motioned past me at a middle-aged woman in uniform. We shook hands. Her name was Tanaka. She was humanoid, light-skinned, with a communicator at her ear and MedOne's logo on one shoulder, just below SciPol's. No helmet.

I gave the fabricated account of what we'd been up to: some nonsense about a leftover cadre of Imperiex'es troops. "We had a tip that they might still be literally underground in one of Nimah's abandoned sectors."

One of her eyebrows rose up and pretty much stayed there for the duration. "Really?" Maybe she was scowling at me because she knew I was full of it. Or maybe she'd had to forgo her break when I'd come barreling in with Lyle. Or both. "What exactly would they still have been doing there?"

"That's what we were hoping to find out." I shrugged.

"Why would an enemy from the future attack you with obsolete tech and poisons?"

"Maybe they were improvising, Ma'am." I tried to look sincere. At that moment, I would have gladly swapped places with Lyle, or even with one of those shattered robots back on Nimah. I wasn't proud.

"Look, uh… Chameleon, right?" She didn't bother to look up from the report she was typing on her pad. "Not to give you a hard time. It's sweet that you prefer public service to yacht races and so on. But why didn't your people notify one of our precincts on Nimah first? Did you misplace their com addy or something?"

"Well, it was just a rumor, Ma'am." We'd moved away from the well-guarded wing where Lyle was recovering. We passed one of the oval mirrors that marked each waiting area. There were clusters of small white flowers in a vase on either side of the mirror. A couple of gossiping interns slipped past us, vanishing through a door behind a c-ring of silver and white chairs.

" 'Tanaka' will do, or 'Sergeant.' My sons don't call me 'Ma'am' and you're younger than they are." Her left hand tapped a few codes. The small silver pad spat out a disc no larger than a game token, and much less ornate. She dug a small sleeve from her belt, slid the disc inside and handed it to me. "See that your leader gets this. I'll be in touch with her, as well as Mr. Norg before his release. I expect a full report from somebody at your HQ within twenty-four standard hours. It should be signed and authorized by everyone involved. Then copies should go to Zendak in New Metropolis, NaVarlo in Centra-Lents on Nimah, and myself. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Ma—uh, Sergeant Tanaka. Thank You. We'll get right on that." _Phantom, you better have been rehearsing, too. I don't care how close you are to stepping down._ "Uh, just one more thing before I go."

"You want to know where the café is? Imperiex'es friends didn't offer you anything for the road?"

I was starting to like her. She was like a half-sized cross of Wolf and Garth, only with graying hair and a red-and-gold hummingbird dangling from each ear. "Right. Also, Invisible Kid's partner is probably going to come by to see how he is, possibly in civs. Name's Condo Arlik. Chemical King. Will your people know he's not an enemy and that it's okay for him to be here?"

" 'Partner' as in 'team' or 'personal?' " She consulted her pad again.

"Uh, yes."

She brought up the team's current roster. "No problem. Oh, and three flights down, on your way back to Emergency's main drag."

"Thanks." I turned into a hummingbird and took off, but in my "natural" color, not that of her jewelry. I didn't want Tanaka to think that I was needling her. Much.

The "café" turned out to be several shuttered kiosks with pink and green trim. A matching display between them read "Back by 0400 hours." It was now about 0100 hours. I dodged a stack of chairs and a few cleaning 'bots. Back in my normal shape, I confronted the vending wall that had offerings on both sides. It took up the equivalent of half a battle cruiser, only flattened into 2-D. I found a date-rosewater drink that I knew Phantom Girl was hooked on. It was a reasonably good peace offering. For myself, I didn't really want anything except to get home without nodding off at the wheel.

At least I told myself that was all, while I sipped a recovery drink (blue, for old time's sake) and studied familiar landmarks. It was safer.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

"Yes, I'm working on your stupid report for your damn espionage squad, so I hope you appreciate- Oooh, is that—"

"Yeah." I had just walked into Phantom's office. Or it would be her office for a few more days.

She snatched the soft drink from my hand before I could even sit down. "Thanks."

"Sure. Is it okay if I go to sleep now and we go over everything in daylight?" I pushed a half-full packing module over on the bench in front of the desk. I sat down, trying not to yawn.

She nodded and cracked open the can. "You're not gonna' eat?"

I shrugged, before handing her Tanaka's disc. "Anything important happen while we were gone?"

"In a standard day? Not much. Violet seemed kind of… distant when she gave her report. Gosh, I wonder why?" She smirked at me, but I ignored it. "Go change out of that adman-goes-sport-fishing costume and do… whatever."

I sighed. "Okay then." Waking up Violet at 0200 hours didn't seem like a plan. "By the way, did you know Medicus One had a new liaison?"

"Yeah. Tanaka's all right. At least she doesn't call us 'those Legion freaks' when we're standing right there." She keyed a few flourishes to the report and stood up, yawning. "I'll walk you to the lift. Computo, save all."

We moved past the monitor and exchanged waves with Karate Kid. "I will be _so_ happy when Lightning Lad takes over next week," Phantom continued. He had won the election just a few days ago. "I'm never, never leading anything again. I mean it."

"Of course you do. Listen, I'll try and have my piece of boilerplate ready for you by 0800 hours, okay?"

"Sure." She grinned and took a long pull from the can. "But what I really want's a picture of you in that cute little spy hat." She poked at the damp wool cap that was crushed in my left hand. Its gray ribs were still caked with mud and salt. The rest of my clothes were the same, though I had washed my hands and face at the hospital.

"Tell you what." We had reached the lift. "You can have that picture if I can send your Mom a preview of that… thing you're wearing to Bouncy and Trip's party. Deal?"

"Get in the lift, Cham."

"Getting… Getting..." I managed to evade the mock-punch she aimed at my midsection, but just barely.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

I was sitting at my com a half hour later, in an old white t-shirt and blue sleep pants that needed their hems let down. I'd washed up and drunk some water, but was too tired to think about food. I was debating whether or not to check SciPol for updates one last time when she buzzed me.

"C'mon in, Violet."

"Hey." Her feet were bare and her hair was tied back. "I know I'm supposed to be asleep," she added before I could graciously point that out. She grabbed an extra chair and sat down next to me. "But we need to talk." She set her field unit down on the desk.

"Uh, yeah." About what?

_That thing before we left. It was all a mistake. I was under the influence of that chemical Lyle had going in the corner for three days. I just checked our filtration system and found out it wasn't working right. _

_Really? That's seriously weird. _

_You're okay if we just pretend it never happened, aren't you, Cham?_

"Cham?"

"Still here." I made myself not look at the arrow logo that ran down the front of her long, sleeveless purple nightshirt. It was black-embroidered, more detailed than the one on her regular uniform. Her black leggings had the same design in purple, running up the outer seam of each leg. Probably her Mom had done that. My palms were sweaty, and I fumbled the unit picking it up.

"Thanks for letting me read Delse's coms. I brought you Derbai's, too." She gestured at the newest icon on the unit screen.

I shrugged. "He's not in a place where he can object. Hopefully he'd understand, right?"

"Yeah, and Derbai; she's…"

I realized what had really woken her up in the small hours. I looked at my screen. The SciPol bulletin was blinking "new" in bright red. I decided to let her tell me first. "When?"

"About fifteen minutes ago. I talked to Valenz, their Earth liaison. He's been helping with the search planetside. They found… some personal effects in the Northeast quarter of the planet. Up in the mountains."

"Effects… as in… ?"

"Her bracelets, some other stuff that had her DNA." She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "All they know is… something got her. Maybe even a real mine. Wouldn't that be a—"

"In the mountains? Nobody's found any real mines there before. Not that anyone's looked much."

"No, no." She held up one hand. "Valenz thinks she died off-planet, and then somebody moved… what was left."

"That doesn't make much sense."

"Yeah, I know. But they've only started investigating, so… They'll know more in a few days. We may even be able to get Dawnstar to help, when she gets back from that thing near Mercury. Also they'll be questioning Luthor, as soon as they can pin her down."

"That'll be illuminating, I'm sure."

She smiled a little. "Yeah, like that mess at the bottom of the salt lake."

I smirked. "Nimah's gonna' sue you for that."

"Shut up." But I knew she wasn't mad, only preoccupied. Trying to stay above it, like I was.

"Violet, if it's really— Well, I'm really sorry." I motioned her over.

She sat down on my lap and I put both arms around her. I realized that it was the first time I'd really felt warm since we'd set down on Nimah.

"Yeah. I wish…"

"What?"

"Never mind." Her head was on my shoulder, and her touch sent a charge over my skin, even through cloth; even tiring and tense as things were.

One common misconception about Durlans is that we form some kind of psychic bond with whoever or whatever we're mimicking; that we can instantly assume the knowledge and persona of the source. But that's a different skillset. Brainy had learned about its drawbacks the hard way. How well would that first day on Grystaad have gone if I'd actually thought like a buzzer? I would have thrown Violet a hundred meters down into a field somewhere; then gone off in search of whatever the species does for fun in early summer.

No, whatever link I had with Delse had nothing to do with having collected his form, along with so many others. Just as whatever link Violet had with Derbai had nothing to do with my teammate's close-up knowledge of molecules and the rest; nothing to do with what made a Grystaadian's structure like or unlike her own.

These attachments existed by chance only, but that didn't make them seem any less real. Knowing that didn't stop me from wishing it was all over. There was still so much to understand, between the case and... _Was she…?_

_Stay above it, Stupid._ I gently pushed her off my lap so I could concentrate on business.

"Look." Her hands rested on either side of the chair she'd returned to, but her eyes fixed on me; as steady as I'd ever seen them. "Last night, before we had to go chasing after Lyle, I really meant it, okay? Just so you know."

"Uh-huh." My face was hot again, but I was too tired to really care.

"But there's some things I've wondered about. Reading his coms has... kind of helped me crystallize them. There wasn't much time even before this news. Now there's less."

"Sure." I made myself look at her. "Violet, I… I meant it, too."

She smiled. "I know."

"Okay." I picked up the unit again. "I'm listening."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Something had gone wrong with the climate regulators in New Metropolis. The heat was pushing down hard. Everyone fanned themselves with portable coolers and gulped down water. The sky was overcast, with the sun leaving a smear of red over the skyline as it set. There was no breeze to break the humidity at all.

I passed vendors and a couple of kids sprawled on the grass, next to their panting dogs. The playground was deserted except for one boy on the swing set, stirring up the breeze for all it was worth. His tentacles waved in mid-air and came down in the same half-circle again and again. He was shrieking with laughter. Even from this far away, I recognized him. It wasn't just his appearance: the gray skin, half his narrow "limbs" wrapping around the swing's tether and the rest steering it. The heat was also pure nourishment to him. Even while it was making the rest of us practically double over.

I walked closer. Was it just my imagination or was he getting older? Sweat ran down over my brows and into my eyes, no matter how many times I tried to wipe it away. Yes, at fifteen meters away, each set of tentacles clocked in at six, not twelve.

At ten meters away, there were three, not six.

At seven meters, one for each arm and one for each leg.

At five meters, limbs, joints, fingers and toes. Though the conspicuous nails common to many humanoids hadn't yet appeared. The limbs still seemed to curve rather than angle. The fingers folded into a cone shape on each hand, tapering to a single point just as the tentacles once had.

His now-longer legs stretched out as the swing moved back to the ground again. He stirred up a cloud of brown-gray dust, dragging his feet against the hard ground and braking to a stop. His clothes were the same color as the dust, and his bracelets were tarnished silver.

I sat down on the swing next to him. Each of his large blue eyes had an image of me. I realized that we'd spoken here before. I'd told him things about me and about what the team was trying to do for his homeworld. He got up before I could say anything.

There were the nails, with a little dirt under them. He was fully formed, but I had passed him in time. He could never grow older.

"Delse! Wait! Where are you—?"

He ran. For being relatively new to the use of legs and feet, he moved fast. He also had the advantage of hospitable weather.

I jumped up, needing to change into something that could overtake him quickly. I'd only half-formed the thought of what to be, when somebody seized my right arm from behind.

"Cham, don't!" He was still taller than me. The green skin was darker than I remembered. He'd been out in the open a lot, maybe tired and hungry. The eyes and cheekbones were more prominent than they should have been.

"Let go!" I could have knocked him down easily, but I didn't want to. "Brainy, I have to catch him! I have to—"

"No." His hair was longer and neatly combed, apart from a few sweaty strands clinging to his forehead, obscuring the scars. "Cham, you can't save him."

"Brainy, where the hell have you been?" I should have dragged him back to HQ, or at least to the Paramedic Station right in the Southeast corner of the park. "Let go! Don't you see that—?"

"If you follow him, you won't come back. Look." He pointed past my shoulder, and I turned around.

The entire park was suddenly empty except for us, and the sky was a hard, cloudless blue. Bits of ice and snow lay on the ground. City Maintenance 'bots had overlooked them. The trees were bare, though they'd been richly leafed out just a moment ago. The grass was brown and the air was dry. Only the red up above us was still the same. I shivered.

His beat-up black jacket had been too thick for the heat. Now it was too thin for this cold. He put his hands in the pockets anyway.

I waved my arm around the empty space. "All of us working together: Violet, Lyle, Trip, Saturn—it's not enough! Couldn't you—?"

He sat down on the swing that Delse had abandoned. "You can save the rest, and you will."

For want of any better idea, I sat down next to him. "It's nearly Spring there, Brainy. We don't have the proof we need and their damn Council won't listen to—"

"There's still time." He stood up. The huge white arch that bordered one side of the Square was behind him. "Spring is still more than two months away."

"Damnit, if you know something, then-"

"You still have time." He nodded at something or someone I couldn't see. Then he started walking away, towards the arch.

The wind was picking up and my head began to hurt. I made myself stand. "Wait! Tell me where you—" The ache was dull at first, then sharp. It moved like lightning.

"Cham!"

He was gone. So was the park. I was in my room, sitting up in half-darkness. There was Saturn Girl, one hand on my shoulder, fingertips of the other pressed against her own temple. I blinked, pushing against sleep and the glow from her eyes._ Son of a_—

"Cham?"

There was no more pain, only the pressure from her fingers. "I'm all right, Saturn Girl. You can let me go." It felt like I was shouting, but I wasn't.

She nodded and released me. Behind her stood Violet and Nemesis Kid. I knew he was there in case I'd…

"Stand down, Nemesis." Violet's voice was sharp. "It's okay now."

He nodded, lowering his right hand and killing the green glow around it.

Still in her "working" voice, Saturn said, "You'll remember everything now."

Violet held up something in one hand. My dress jacket. The green one. I hadn't worn the damn thing since…

This really wasn't what I'd pictured on and off for over a year now, whenever I'd imagined her coming to my room at this hour. "Which device did it turn out to be?" I stood up and rubbed my eyes. There was a small plastic bag taped to the jacket; whatever was inside barely visible. All I could discern was silver coloring. "One of our finalists?"

"Yeah. I've got the magnified pictures downstairs." Violet looked furious. "Damn Erzah! I should have—"

Saturn shook her head and stood up. "Never mind that now, Violet. Let's get downstairs."

Nemesis Kid had already moved towards the door. I got up, slid my boots back on over the rest of my uniform, and followed.

It bothered me that Saturn had needed us all linked together while I slept. Whether the post-midnight matinees in my head were ugly, pretty or some combination of both, I didn't like the idea of sharing them unedited. Not with teammates I actually liked, and certainly not with Nemesis Kid. Whom I've never much cared for.

But these were extenuating circumstances. I'd known for a while that something was wrong with my sleep patterns, ever since that day we'd last seen Derbai and Erzah face to face. Ever since we'd found out about Luthor. We'd wondered why she always seemed to be one step ahead of the Legion these days. She'd driven the Jils into hiding before we could learn everything from them that we'd needed to. Her people had injured two of my teammates. Thanks to Erzah's little gift, she'd been tracking me, reading me.

I remembered the taunt directed at Violet when we'd been to Takron-Galtos: _How do you like your present?_ For a couple of tram cards, I would have killed Luthor myself, if she'd been there.

"Cham, we're here." Violet took my arm. Everyone waited for me to get off the lift, and we were on our way back to the lab. She yawned.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah. Phantom Girl's taking both of us off active duty for twenty-four hours. We're supposed to rest. Right after I disable this damn thing." She had the jacket carefully folded over one arm. I glanced at the bit of metal stuck to it. "Sorry I couldn't do it sooner, but I needed Saturn there before I knew for sure."

"You don't have to apologize. Unless you put a hole in my jacket, of course."

"Hey, c'mon. My Mom and Ruthel are dressmakers. I know my way around textiles."

"Uh-huh. Y'know, Lyle's gonna' be back by this time tomorrow. So can you really stand to leave him in charge for nearly half a day?"

"Sure. Let him have his fun." She grinned. "After all, he was wrong. I'm pretty sure this is your 'fourth factor' right here. If not, it's damn close." She punched her entry code in at the lab door, letting Saturn and Nemesis through first.

"So, you'll be gloating about that for how long, exactly?"

"Oh, just a month or so, maximum."

I shook my head, pretending to be horrified.

It was nearly 0600 hours. Not quite two days since we'd left for Nimah.

It was nearly 3011. Not quite two years since the last time we'd seen Brainy.

_You can save the rest, and you will._

Nobody, with the possible exception of Saturn Girl, even had any idea where Brainy was. How could I draw solace from someone who wasn't even there? Maybe my mind was just going.

The three of us sat down. Saturn and Nemesis were both taking notes, looking at the magnifications Violet had cued up over the lab table.

"There's the tracking portion." Nemesis pointed at one of the small red ovals, halfway down a welter of bright yellow wires. Hard to believe that at normal size, the whole thing was no bigger than a melon seed. "Violet, will you be able to keep that part going even after you shut down the rest?"

"I'm gonna' try." Possibly that would keep us from tipping our hand to Erzah and Luthor, at least for a little while. They might believe the device was undiscovered, but failing. "Hey, grab me the small D-Unit. It's right there in the cabinet on your side, Nemesis."

"Sure." He disappeared for a minute, ducking down to open the cabinet and returning with the plate-shaped unit and a bag of small tools. He handed them to her while Saturn and I watched. "Listen, I used to study this stuff all the time when I was still in cop school. D'you want me to stick around and assist?"

"Are you any help with a system this old?" She was putting on safety glasses, but she paused to shoot him a skeptical look.

"Are you kidding? Myar's academy? 'Old' was all we had." He smirked at me, unnoticed by the other two. "Y'know, cast-offs. Charity."

_Nice push on the buttons there, Druiter. You really should teach a course._

"Great. Get some magnifiers and a com for yourself. Third drawer behind you." Violet was looking through her field unit for the right manual.

I must have been thinking more "out loud" than necessary. Saturn Girl motioned me to the other end of the table. We left the two of them to pore over their info.

_It's true, Cham. There is still time._

I heard the familiar rush of air that was Violet disappearing into the micro-verse._ Yeah, well… Saturn, you can't get the truth from a conversation that never really happened._

She smiled. _Who says so? You're not really depressed, you know. Just hungry. _She dug in a pocket of the lab coat she'd thrown on, producing two packages of neon-colored shrimp chips. _Here. _She slid one across the table.

_Imra, don't tell me you eat this stuff. It's poison. Look at these things! They have red googly eyes painted on._

_Then it's your duty to take it. Save me from myself._

_Right._ I picked up the bag. _Long live the Legion._

So I was taking charity, too.

**End Ch. 9**

_("Red July" is pop goodness from the K.J. Denhert CD Girl Like Me. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Tanaka is mine, along with Grystaad, of course. Thanks for reading.)_


	10. Nobody To Blame

**Nobody To Blame**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Started for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set one and three-quarter years after S2's "Dark Victory." 'T' for violence, language, implied m/f, m/m, f/f. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism are welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )_

3011

"…_As our people become increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of justice, they are bound to move on their own against our former rulers; And these steps are probable from both current and ex-citizens…" – Grystaad Rep. Lin Cathe, open com to Warden Brugol [Takron-Galtos], 1/3/11._

"_Prayers console the living and flatter the dead, but a soldier gone missing cannot hear them." – Imskian proverb, date of origin unknown._

The holidays came to our corner of the U.P. Snow, lights, songs, gifts. I hardly noticed. Derbai was still missing, and her homeworld was still losing its people—even with the "mines" at rest. Up on screen, it was all just numbers. Ten thousand left that quadrant over there. Twenty-three hundred arrived in this city on this planet over here, and so on. But down on the ground…

After we shut down the "tag," I combed every square centimeter of HQ. With help from Nemesis, Phantom and Saturn, I got in everyone's faces and everyone's quarters, too. Just to make sure that Cham had been the sole unwitting carrier.

We turned its specs over to SciPol, and other people with stories like Eddrun's surfaced. All were emigres. None were the last unaccounted-for soldier in Derbai's old squad. We were primed for distant fire, to quote Mom, but nobody moved against the witnesses. At least not openly. Not yet.

Then Lyle took off for the Heisenberg system, to talk with other scientists who were studying Grystaad. Between other year-end missions and the holidays, HQ was as quiet as I'd ever seen it.

I was finishing graveyard monitor shift, along with some tea and toast. Maybe I'd gotten a little obsessed, because I hated all the red and green lights strung around the place. I'd had this nightmare a few times recently: An all-encompassing forest of green grass, or tangles of green cloth fibers, and me too small to see any way out. I couldn't save Cham, and the green exploded into dark red chemical fires and blood—

_Stop it, Violet._ I warmed my hands on the old white mug for a minute. On the monitor, a peaceful "Z" blinked over Cham's symbol. _Location: Quarters._ No one could tap his mind anymore. Saturn Girl had made sure of that.

I wondered if I could take down the lights a few days ahead of schedule without angering anyone. Probably not. Our merry search through a few thousand spare undergarments and personal holos had already tested the limits of everyone's patience.

My nearby field unit held New Year's greetings from several sources, including Luthor and Erzah. Her calligraphy was outlined in gold. His graphics were less ornate, but more colorful. I replayed his com's wave. Not a modern-sounding melody, despite the glittery electronics. It seemed familiar, though. Maybe one of the tunes that Delse had once sent Cham.

There was a snippet I'd saved from the newsfeeds: Erzah at some homeworld function. I replayed it. His face was impassive, like the mechanical security flanking him. They resembled Luthor's "companion," Wodehouse. Gold-colored trim replaced black, and the shoulders had Grystaad's diplomatic insignia.

The responses I started to compose in my head weren't all that cordial. It was just as well that a pre-recorded message interrupted me.

"Good morning, Shrinking Violet." Dawnstar. A diagrammed view from two systems over appeared above the monitor. It zoomed in on Makathor. Luthor's planet. "Zir Derbai definitely traveled between her homeworld and this sector recently."

I sat up a little straighter.

"The trail ended twenty-nine standard days ago, corresponding with the last time that anyone saw the Ambassador. Due to increased radiation activity, Saturn Girl's search was less conclusive. Just as with SciPol's own telepaths."

As to whether Derbai was down there, in any condition.

"Findings also confirm Dream Girl's prognostication of some link between the disappearance and Makathor."

A thought balloon next to the winged star logo began blinking as Dream Girl chimed in. "We're still noting increased radiation in the area surrounding Luthor's planet. SciPol can't confirm or deny your theory that it's self-generated."

Imitating the dampener effects of the Aalt Cloud. That kind of tech was well within Luthor's grasp, even with the still-limited funds at her disposal. "We'll be talking with SciPol again shortly, but I don't foresee any progress. I'm sorry, Shrinking Violet."

In other words, SciPol's finest would keep dragging their feet in the name of procedure. I sped through the rest and closed the window, just as a new incoming message made me jump up from my seat. My tea mug crashed to the floor.

"Good morning, Shrinking Violet."

"Luthor. Good morning. Thanks for the com." I sat down again. The com-signature gave Venegar as her locale. I couldn't glimpse much with the hulking form of Wodehouse beside her. There were discs fanned neatly on a polished desk, a nul-grav vase spilling over with tropical flowers, and a tumbler of something cold nearby.

"You're welcome." She stacked the discs before pushing them aside, and I could see the burnished gold of a Grystaadian bracelet. "It must be sort of boring, stuck at work over the holidays."

I shrugged. "They're not really mine, so..." I nudged the tea mug closer to my chair with one foot.

"I guess a few of you are putting in time right now. The telepath, that winged girl, and the fortune-teller, right? SciPol says you requested access to my home base in my absence."

_Like you don't know all our names. _"Just some routine reconnaissance, Luthor. I had Lightning Lad com you a standard request. Maybe you'd—"

"As I had my attorneys explain to yours last month, that's just not possible right now. I'm busy with several important projects. Very busy." She sipped from the tumbler and set it down on a cloth napkin. Now I could see the other bracelet.

"Very pretty, Luthor. Were those from the resort's gift shop?"

She glanced back at Wodehouse, nodding at something off-screen. Turning back to me, she said, "Listen, I don't mean to cut you short, Violet. " A grin. "So to speak."

"Really, Miss—" Wodehouse began, but she waved him away.

"I'm grateful that the Legion values my well-being, and that of my friends. How about we make this a year for valuing boundaries, too?" She raised the tumbler. "What do you say?"

_You piece of garbage._ It was hard to smile and grind my teeth at the same time. _Your little sortie past my- my best friend's 'boundaries' could have killed him! Not that Erzah left any marks. Not on the device, not in the café's security cam. But __I__ know. _

"Shrinking Violet?" Her eyes glittered like Erzah's tune.

I toasted her with my retrieved mug. Sure it had been empty when it hit the floor, but didn't Terrans like to say that thoughts counted most- when it came to gifts? "Happy New Year, Alexis. Our regards to Ambassador Sar, as well." I punched the cut-off button much harder than necessary. _Enjoy it while you can_.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

After sunup, I dropped some reports off with Lightning Lad. Lyle was back and Cham was awake, so I wanted to devise our next step. "Our" meaning what everyone was calling "The Espionage Squad." Phantom Girl had made the name stick. Cham loved it. In rare accordance with Lyle, I wondered if it was a little too long.

"Have any of you counted out your codenames syllable for syllable lately?" Lightning Lad unpacked some family holos and set them on the leader's desk.

Lyle smirked. "Hey, Leader Lad can say 'syllable!' "

"See? He _is_ more than just another pretty face," Cham said.

"Thanks for the reports, Violet." Garth sighed as he sorted a bundle of discs into a holder. "Take these two for their morning walk, okay?"

"For his next trick, he'll explain how this works." Cham had grabbed a little Gaderne Sphere –a recent gift from Ayla- off the desk and was rolling it back and forth in his hands.

Lyle grabbed it from him. "Okay, so when H2O, Ethylene Glycol and dyed _sivhe'_ fragments love each other _very_ much—"

"Use the abbreviation." Garth took the toy away. "Or think up something else by noon, since that's when you get voted on. You can be 'Digby's Dodgers,' for all I care. Just be somewhere else until then. I've got work to do."

Cham moved toward the door. In a stage whisper: "He tried offering it to Tinya first, and she threw her field unit at him."

"Okay, but—" I managed to walk, despite feeling like I'd just been run over.

"Wait. So Violet—?" Lyle tried unsuccessfully to avoid a push from Garth.

"-Is your squad leader until further notice. At least, that's what I'll be proposing. Go."

Back in the hall, more red and green lights twinkled at us.

"You gonna' challenge me for leadership, I-K?" I half-wanted him to.

"Maybe when, or if, this Grystaad thing ever finishes. Consider my silence today a special gift."

"Gee, and I didn't buy _you_ anything."

"Look, would you two please just once… Uh..." Cham watched me stop by one of the light strands. I moved my eyes back and forth between a red bulb and a green one. "Violet?"

"Whoa." For a moment, I'd forgotten where we were.

Cham smiled. "Yeah? I like blue with green better. It reminds me of Durla's flag. How about you, Lyle?"

I tried not to smile, and failed. "You can paint us a picture later on, Detective." Quickly, I unsnapped the notepad at my waist and scribbled something on it. "Right now, you guys get your field units and meet me in the lab in ten minutes. I'll get Phantom Girl down here, too. I know how we're gonna' proceed."

"But there's—" Lyle began.

"Plenty of time before the meeting if you hurry!" I took off on ring power.

Cham took a step forward. "Wait! How—?"

"It came to me in a bad dream! Just get moving!" I rounded the corner and left them standing there.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Takron-Galtos, again.

The Assistant Supervisor of Sector C, Unit 14 was a youngish guy named Lalo Muldron. We'd chatted a little in the days leading up to this trip. His accent made me homesick. A few meters below us, the individual sector roofs with their red-rimmed "eyes" faced the sky, seeing nothing.

I waited as he tapped a code to get us through the Sector's shielding. He was quick, though SciPol's back-mounted flight pack was more cumbersome than our rings. From up here the passageways were like monstrous legs, linking the units together. He pointed to the passage at two o'clock.

We touched down near a seam over a sealed entrance way. Then he shed the pack. "Ready?"

I nodded and took his arm. We shrunk together to three centimeters each. He guided me through a space between two welds, and we were inside the unit. Muldron couldn't fly now, so we balanced carefully on a soldered lip in the ceiling. I kept a hand on his arm, ready to grab him if he slipped.

"Can't go further than this. Com me in 'C' when you can."

"No problem."

"Good luck, Shrinking Violet."

"Likewise." I heard him climb back up through the seam, resume full size and take off again. Then I jumped, grew, and raced the other way. My disguised ring lent enough light to see by, barely. I wore dark plainclothes again. This wing had been closed to await upgrades weeks ago, so its cameras were switched off.

I flew through a breached entrance into a small docking bay, meant for transporting provisions. It had medium-high ceilings and big square soundproofing tiles on walls, ceilings, and floor. Everything was colored either putty brown, or granite gray.

I flew straight into bedlam.

Shots were bursting out from behind an overturned console to my left and a beat-up shuttle to my right. A smashed-open door was between them. The firefight made the dim room blaze up, sporadically. The noise was deafening. I got small again in a hurry and searched for cover.

Three Grystaadians lay scattered around the room, along with three prison guards: hopefully just unconscious. A ruined cam lay where an intruder had shot it down. It had trailed the intruders when they breached the neighboring passage and tripped a silent alarm. I'd been in a routine meeting with Muldron's people at the time.

_So you're fast, but maybe not so bright. Good to know._

From next to a piece of the ruined console, a broken metal support struck a shooter hard, twice, in the back and head. She yelled and tried to turn. The support seemed to float in mid-air, swaying a little. Her gun slipped loose and she was out. The support retreated back behind the console.

_Invisible Kid. _

A dark-clad woman phased through the side of the shuttle. She was pushing a foe in front of her at high speed. The Grystaadian grunted in surprise, his heavy gun slipping free and crashing to the ground. In phantom state, he couldn't hold onto it. She turned them both solid again, then let him go and veered to one side. His back struck the floor, then his head. The resulting noise was impressive.

_Phantom Girl._

She landed gracefully on her feet and got in a semi-crouch, ready to fight him again. He swore, staggered to his feet, and recovered his weapon.

"Need some help here!" She shouted over one shoulder. There were grunts and punching sounds coming from a dark corner near the shuttle.

"I'm busy! Leave a message!" Lyle yelled. I did a quick head count. Muldron's people had commed that there were six intruders. The big guy was second to last. _No, wait._ Another Grystaadian soared over my head, as if something had him by the neck and was propelling him backwards. A grunt, the sound of hard skin striking harder ceramic. The impact knocked a few tiles loose as he fell to the ground, and stayed down.

Okay, _now_ the big guy was last. He fired wildly at Phantom. The shots simply went through her and knocked pieces off the shuttle. I shrunk down into the gun's top-mounted cartridge, and severed its connector. When I popped out and grew back to normal size, he just stared at me with a wide mouth and wider eyes. He squeezed the trigger again and again, not believing the hollow click it made now.

"No need to thank me." I gave him my best smile. "Hate to see a good-looking vehicle get all shot up like that."

"Wh- what did you-?" He started to swing it at me. Phantom flew up and kicked him hard in the face. He fell back into a sitting position. Dark blood trickled from his nose and he looked back and forth at us, blinking.

"Nice work." I remembered not to add her name as I kicked the gun away. Better if they didn't guess who we were.

"Thanks." She grinned and landed next to me. Suddenly the shuttle door swung open, and the prisoner sprang out. Grystaadian, like the rest, but much older; in standard prison garb and a nametag. He was being marched roughly from the shuttle by… well, nothing at all. Until he came to a stop in front of us. Then the dim, smoky air next to him formed pinpoints of darkness that flowed like ink into Lyle's visible form.

He steadied Zir Cenbai with one hand on his shoulder as the other man swayed a little, groggy from having been knocked out recently. Cenbai held up both hands in an "I'm fine" gesture, but he didn't speak, though his feelers made a dull whining noise. Lyle smirked at me. "Better late than never, Boss."

It had taken me barely three minutes from the alarm going off to get here. The others had been doing a practice search of a neighboring sector, not expecting the Grystaadians to appear quite so soon. "Shut up." I watched him rub the knuckles of one hand and grimace. It served him right. "Just gather up their weapons. I'll tell Muldron it's all clear."

The conscious Grystaadian kept rubbing his bloody nose and staring. Phantom Girl stayed battle ready, never taking her eyes off him. I did the same for Cenbai once I'd made the call, but he just stood quietly and looked at his feet. It was a long ten minutes before fresh guards and prison medics came and got everyone out of there.

"Goodbye, Per Ollan." The prisoner nodded at the big man as the guards moved towards them. "Thanks for visiting."

Ollan swore at him, twisting frantically as the guards moved in with cuffs. His yellow eyes seemed to bore through my dark goggles as he struggled to look at me. "To side with a Zir… your fault if…" A medic clamped a mask over his mouth, dodging the three other guards it took to push him down onto a nul-grav gurney. "…Your fault when they…" His voice faded as the sedative took effect and they hauled him out.

A single guard waited with us until everyone else was gone. She nodded her head, and we began picking our way through the smoking mess: Back towards the open entrance behind the disabled shuttle. One of the prison "short-hop" vehicles would return us to Muldron's unit.

"Everyone okay?" I watched "Zir Cenbai's" face and form shift. Gray skin turned orange, feelers melted away, and three brown eyes became two green ones.

Cham shrugged and rubbed a rust-colored bruise on the left side of his head. "Mostly. Guess they were saving their 'A' material for when they, uh, shepherded Daddy Zir into freedom."

"Nice work, Cham." Phantom sat next to Lyle in the semi-circular space behind the guard/pilot. We all buckled in.

"Next stop, Produce." Lyle grinned and dusted something off the front of his suit.

"Great." Phantom leaned over and rubbed her ankle. "A cold drink and a green salad would totally hit the spot."

The guard who'd delivered us back to Sector C waited outside the "short hop" while we got ready. The goggles came off. We donned tunics, trousers, and instrument packs belonging to Prison Maintenance. Everything was bright yellow or pale green.

Phantom Girl tugged at her collar and whispered, "Anyone else broiling hot now?"

"You're never happy." Cham had folded his antennae back to keep the uniform cap from slipping down over his eyes. I had to stifle a giggle, despite the solemn occasion.

I focused straight ahead as we walked, double-file, with our guard in front. The row upon row of blocks and cells made endless concentric circles viewed either up or down. Prisoners paced back and forth in their cells, read, or slept. Small round surveillance cams hovered and darted from level to level.

"Last time we were here," he continued, "You complained about being too cold."

"That's because I was locked up then," she muttered. "But at least I wasn't wearing two costumes at once."

"How come I miss all the good times?" Lyle fixed the clasp that held his tool belt in place. "It's not fair."

"Quiet!" I hissed. "Does everyone remember what to do?"

"Knock down the door and sing 'Happy Birthday?'" Cham gave up and stuffed the hat into a belt pouch.

I rolled my eyes. "Just how hard _did_ those people hit you?"

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Grystaad's Junta had once numbered twelve. Then four died in the overthrow, and two more killed themselves en route to jail. That left six in solitary confinement. U.P. law forbade them contact with their homeworld, or with one another. This year, it had finally relaxed enough to allow cursory contact with other inmates.

The erstwhile rulers had been model prisoners, so they'd also obtained the chance to work on service projects: Such as this garden at the heart of Sector C, where inmates helped grow their own food.

The decor was typically drab and angular, but the square fixtures above duplicated natural light. Hydrators floated over trays of plants and occasionally released cool mist. The largest planter ran nearly the length of the room, holding a thriving crop of D'Strali grass. Its curled blades were green now, tipped with dark red. In another week, the green would vanish completely. Then it would be harvested, its extracts going into sweets and vitamin drinks. Its fibers would be dried and fed to livestock off-planet.

Guards watched the doors, and Muldron watched us from his office at the uppermost level of the block. Apart from that, we were left alone. Passers-by couldn't hear us, and all they saw was Prisoner #C07Gr4410: Zir Cenbai, (the real one, this time) Junta member, chatting with Maintenance as he worked. Nothing strange there.

It wasn't just Cenbai's features that reminded me of his missing kin. Something in the voice, the gestures, made me shiver, despite the warm room and two layers of disguise. _Was I wrong about you from the start, Derbai? Raised by people like this, did you ever even stand a chance?_

He was forty-seven point five standard: the youngest surviving ex-ruler, but also one of the oldest living Grystaadians. His face was calm, his hands deft as they culled shorter, weaker blades, row by row. A nul-grav bucket floated nearby, catching the discards. I was pretending to analyze the air in the room with a scanner as we talked.

"I have to hand it to you, Cenbai. For a guy who could have been summarily executed by his former subjects an hour ago, you seem pretty calm." Lyle was walking back and forth between a row of aromatic herbs and a row of berries, eyeballing their progress against a chart he'd cued up on a pad.

Cenbai looked up briefly, gesturing at Cham. "You planted a decoy and sent him out with those guards to do… clean-up, was it? Prescient."

"Well, your fan club showed up a little earlier than we expected." Phantom was pretending to track a cleaning 'bot that roved around the planters. "But nobody's seriously hurt, in case you wondered."

"Anyway, interruptions aside..." Cham sat on the bench that ran perpendicular to the grass. He was sorting tabs of plant food by size and color. "We hoped that maybe you could—"

Cenbai shook his head. "Legionnaire, I can add nothing to whatever you obtained from the officers, the lawyers, or those sham 'Representatives' in Aalt City."

"Derbai is still alive somewhere." I focused on the grass, not on how satisfying it would have been to kick him where it counted. "Please. If there's anything you may have overlooked…"

Another shrug as he continued to work. "You have no proof of that. Do you, Young Lady?"

Cham put down his water glass and picked up a pad. "Rumors keep flying, Cenbai. About assets you Zirs socked away near, or at, the end. But in three-plus years, nobody's found anything."

"So is that why she's vanished?" I watched both Phantom and Lyle adjust their small recorders. "She's waiting for you out there, somewhere? Keeping your treasures locked up for safekeeping?"

He concentrated on the grass.

"Did she send those people who showed up today?" I continued.

"With their whole 'revenge against the old order' spiel being just cover?" said Cham.

One more shrug, while one more minute ticked away. "Of all our offspring, Derbai was strongest and most clever. She was also the one least worthy of our name. I admit it took many in the family aback. As a baby and a little girl, she seemed normal enough."

I started to say something, but stopped with a look from Cham. _Let him keep going. _

"It was only with age that she became secretive, a thief, and prone to wander from our sight. Perhaps it was the illness that swept the family compound when she was ten. Her siblings died, one by one. She was lonely, perhaps. She chose… the wrong company to keep."

"Like in holo-dramas?" Lyle raised an eyebrow. "Sky-bikes and neo-leather jackets? I loved that stuff growing up. My Dad smacked me around for it."

"Unsurprising." Cenbai never looked up from his work. "Beneath those rather bland features so typical of Terrans and their offshoot races, you _do_ have a criminal look about you, Boy." This made me almost laugh out loud. Lyle's Dad was retired SciPol.

"I mean," Lyle continued, "It's just weird to think of royalty dealing with its kids the same way messed-up way the peasants do."

That struck a nerve. Cenbai twitched. The torn grass gave off a sharp smell, like citron.

"Your kids didn't have to die." Phantom was polishing the surface of the cleaning bot with a small cloth. "If you'd only asked, the U.P. would have—"

Cenbai's feelers hummed. "Our affairs were not— are not, your concern!" He turned towards her so sharply that the guards raised their guns. "You had no right to—" One hand formed a fist. Phantom's eyes widened slightly, but she didn't move.

"Cenbai…" The guard nearest us shook her head.

"My apologies, Teoh." He subsided, and the guns came down.

"You're tired, Cenbai." She motioned at the clock. "You can make up your remaining time tomorrow afternoon."

He nodded. "One moment, Teoh." He moved to the bench and sat down. "You have nothing to offer, Legionnaires, and nothing to revoke. Your government robbed us, but it won't kill us." He gave Phantom a small smile, took the cloth she held out, and wiped his hands.

Cham's eyes flickered at this. He turned and whispered something to Lyle.

"You're kind of an asshole, Cenbai." Phantom caught the cloth as he threw it back. "Love the manicure, though. Where'd you have it done?"

Cenbai motioned for the guards, then gave us a final once-over. "You children are deeply uninteresting. You sail above the clouds, touching ground only when you wish to." He accepted the bindings Teoh held out; the only bracelets he'd be allowed for the rest of his life. "Don't presume to judge anyone, when you've never seen below the surface of anything."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Back in uniform, we had dinner in the lab: some mostly-rice concoction that Lyle threw on a burner, and went over what we'd learned from Cenbai. It was more than he'd intended us to learn, thanks in particular to Phantom's sharp eyes.

She and Lyle left for evening patrol and monitor, respectively. I let Cham coax me into the lounge for a game of Spin-Out, earlier than I'd meant to. Nothing like jail time by proxy to make you crave a noisy distraction.

"Hey! You're not supposed to let me win!" Cham hit the "freeze" button and glared at me; after one draw and one loss on my end.

"Who's letting? I've missed at least three of the upgrades, and…" The table-sized cityscape was so cheerful: Bright-colored robo-raptors, saucer-shaped fliers, and glittering stars in pink and purple. _Touching ground only when you wish to._

"That arrogant fucker really got to you, didn't he? Cenbai."

"Channeling Imra, are we?" I sighed, shut the game off altogether and stared down at the table. "Sorry."

"Don't be. I was the same way for a few hours." He pulled his chair closer to mine.

"And then what?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy get up to leave the room. Cham waved.

"G'night, Dodgers!" Garth waved back. I rolled my eyes at him. Cos looked puzzled as he waved, too. The door sighed shut behind them.

Cham glanced in their direction for just a second. I noticed that his bruise was almost gone. "Look, who cares if people like that are right or wrong about how, or what, we see? They just say that crap to get the blame off themselves and onto someone else. Cenbai's a crook and a murderer. You're not and you never will be, so why give a damn?"

I shrugged, thinking of several reasons that I didn't want to go into. "Thanks for the pep talk, Detective." I gave his hand a brief squeeze and changed the subject. "So have you noticed that Garth is almost kind of getting along with Cos lately?"

"Yup." He smiled. "Our little agri-tech is all grown up. Or else there's something in the water. You wanna' get a sample and run a few tests, Commander?"

I grinned and started to shake my head. "Everything's a joke to you."

The smile disappeared. "Not everything, Salu."

His hands were steady when they slipped around my waist, and his mouth was warm on mine. He smelled like the damn lab soap and tasted like something I couldn't even define, but liked. Just his own form, maybe. Even unnamed things could be real.

Couldn't they?

"Commander, is there somewhere you've gotta' be right now?" Another kiss.

"Y- yeah. Asleep." And another. "Early start tomorrow." It was tough to let go. "Et cetera. "

"Okay then." He pulled me back and kissed me again. "Go. You'll feel better tomorrow."

"Uh-huh." I had already started to. "Good Night, Reep." But I kissed him back one more time, just to make sure.

**End Ch. 10**

_("Nobody To Blame" is quality Blues from James Solberg's One of These Days. Lyrics posted to my LJ. The usual hats-off to Legion World for all their help. Thanks for waiting while I sorted out a bunch of work and computer issues; and for reading.)_


	11. Fighting With Fire

**Fighting With Fire**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set one and three-quarter years after S2's "Dark Victory." 'T' for violence, language, implied m/f, m/m, f/f. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )_

3011

"_Captured device [see Legion File #R0811ev for record of events] reveals alloys then in widespread use on Bgtzl, Braal, Carrg and Imsk... Design indicates possible manufacture on one or more of the following planets: Imsk, Naltor and Titan. Probable period of manufacture: 2925-2972. As similar tech was banned throughout the U.P. by 2960 [see link], consider possibility that device was smuggled…" – Garth Ranzz, list com excerpts to/from Det. Avrim Valenz, Metropolis SciPol. Updated 1/15/11._

Dream Girl and I had been cooling our heels here for six hours' worth of arrivals and departures, just outside the orbit of Earth's only moon. Now it was early afternoon by HQ's clock. There were more efficient travel options, but Exchange Place was the oldest one still operational in this system. Between nostalgia and low cost, it did well for a station its size.

We were here because one of her visions had said we should be. The rest of ES had business elsewhere.

Everything was some designer's idea of 2100: bright blue plastic chairs in half-circles, and floor matting printed with phases of the moon. A round picture window looked out at space, while ad scenes on the wall around it kept changing: _Swim, Gamble, Shop, Fetch, Stay._

We were both in civs, with our rings and belt logos concealed. Dreamy had her hair in a braid, under a dark cap with Superman's 'S' emblazoned on the front. She sipped from a travel packet of _estchav_ and scanned a pocket guide over and over again: looking for images of the ship she'd seen in yesterday's dream.

"Anything?"

She frowned and shook her head. "If we miss out because that idiot station chief couldn't even get us complete listings…"

"You'll force-feed them a dozen liters of that stuff?"

She nodded and put the cylinder down. "Should've brought my own from HQ."

"Hey, at least they cordoned off this floor. You saw this level was where… whoever was gonna' show up. That's something, right?"

"Okay, okay. Half a dozen liters." The piped-in jumble of news and bad instrumentals began to wane again. We both snapped to attention.

_"…Outbound Shuttles 66, 73 & 102 arriving from New Cape-Can, landing in five minutes. Please note: passengers arriving at Gate 4-E will…"_

I moved closer so I could see what she was looking at. "Pictures?"

A fast code punch, a sharp beep, and there they were, floating toy-sized in 3-D. She pointed at the one in the middle. It had a finish like scalded tin, with a rounded front and three bronze-colored fins at back.

"That's the one?" But I already knew. I'd been in the lab yesterday, helping Lyle with the recording.

"I'll zoom in and double-check." Dreamy punched another button. Three bronze stripes ran around the craft's side. The center stripe had the word "Pekoe" in dark red script, etched haphazardly next to "73."

_"…Shuttle 73-RR8, now arriving from New Cape-Can, landing in one minute. Please note: passengers arriving at Gate 4-E will…"_

We raced down the curved corridor with its see-thru blue walls. "Don't cloak and don't fly unless you have to," I reminded her. A few floating monitor spheres hummed above or behind us from a polite distance. "Cator-Ce at SciPol swore to me that station security wouldn't pay attention if we did, but-"

"Uh-huh." She made it to the gate a few steps before me. Maybe it was the _estchav_. We stepped behind a floating map of the complex. Dreamy continued in a low voice: "I'm supposed to help Trip set up later on for the party. She'll kill me if I'm late."

"Trip can't fold napkins by herself? You'd think after all those medical studies, she'd- "

"Oh, pipe down." She nudged my shoulder and pointed at the metallic blue archway with a holo "4-E" blinking up top. "There."

The girl was just behind a trio of human tourists. She pushed back the hood of her light brown jacket and surveyed the room. She was tall, almost a head taller than Dreamy.

We'd seen the figure and a glimpse of blue "arm" in the recording, but not much else. "Look at the tentacles. She's fourteen, fifteen, maybe?"

"Six up top, six below." I nodded. A small monitor floated back and forth. It flashed messages for the arrivals, telling them that anyone who'd come to meet them had been sent elsewhere. "Let's see where she goes and who's waiting for her."

Dreamy nodded. We waited until she was ten meters down the automated walkway before getting on behind her. Other arrivals fell in behind us.

The girl adjusted the carry strap on a hard-shelled case over one shoulder and rubbed her eyes. Several minutes ticked by, as other travelers slipped off the walkway and headed for other levels. Then it was just us three, all the way to the Northeast corner of the floor. Past where we'd started out.

She glided over to a two-sided wall of lockers: a hundred faux-antique units in more blue plastic, with decals of old-fashioned locks stuck to the center of each one. I pretended to dig in my jacket pockets for a card-key while I studied her more closely. Dark eyes. No bracelets, of course. She was too young. Her first row of feelers was clipped in a straight line and pushed down against her forehead. Likewise the last row, where skull met neck. The marks were one way that émigrés recognized one other.

I remembered asking Delse if getting feelers cut would hurt—back when the custom was first taking hold. _No more than having your ear pierced, or so everyone says. I don't have any plans to find out…_

She unlocked a unit, then opened the case.

"Cham," Dreamy whispered, "Be careful."

The girl looked up. She wasn't very pleased to see us.

"Hey there," I said. "We were just—"

Dreamy grabbed both my shoulders and pulled me back as our quarry sprang forward, swinging the case at us like a weapon. It whooshed by my chin, missing it by a couple of centimeters.

"You owe me for that," Dreamy said. We both got just airborne enough to be out of striking range, and she added, "I'll give you the specifics later."

"Nice how getting elected deputy hasn't gone to your head, Dreamy." I moved a few meters away from her.

Dreamy shook her head and mumbled, "Next time I'll let her flatten your sensors."

Now we were each on either side of the girl. She swung out with all her upper limbs, the case still in the three comprising her left "arm," but she couldn't reach us.

"Go away!" She edged one tentacle back, grabbed something from the locker, and threw it in the case. "Leave me alone!" She slammed the locker shut and took off, avoiding the walkway this time.

She could speed like one of Garth's bolts by coiling and uncoiling her "legs," but she couldn't outrun us. The security drones watched her, but she didn't call out to them, or signal distress. She was preoccupied, or she didn't want Security's attention. I guessed the latter. She sprang over a safety ledge, using one "arm" and one "leg" to try and slide down a supporting column to the floor below.

"Hey, don't—!"

But Dreamy shook her head at me. I didn't know why. Especially when the girl slipped about one-quarter of the way down. Dropping the case beforehand might have made a difference, because whatever she'd placed inside was heavy. It dragged at her until she lost her grip on the column. She cried out and plummeted towards the lower level. The case slipped loose and fell ahead of her.

"No!" She waved both "arms," trying to snatch it back.

It was at least a twenty-meter drop. I saw shocked observers looking up from the floor below. Any form I could take needed to reach her at a speed where we wouldn't just collide and fall together, but before I could think of one—

Something slowed her descent and then stopped it altogether: maybe eight meters above the third floor.

"Hey, haven't I seen you on the feeds?" The case had also braked to a stop at about the same distance. "Legionnaires, right?"

I took a deep breath and flew lower, still a respectful few meters from our quarry's reach. "Yup. Over here is Superman, and I'm Lana the Insect Queen."

"Really?" Star Boy was in costume. The characteristic white field from his powers surrounded both his hands. "Gotta' say, you don't look like the pics in your history files."

Dreamy rolled her eyes. "Is Security coming?" We were still watching the girl as he brought both her and the case down to meet the ground. People around us whispered and pointed.

"Yeah, I called 'em." He had her completely down now. "It took— Whoa!" He jumped back too late as the girl sprang forward. She yelled wordlessly, and two tentacles struck him in the left side of his head. Hard. He staggered and nearly fell on his side as she tried to grab the case, but it wouldn't budge.

"You all right?" I landed quickly and helped him get his footing back. You could see a darker patch blooming near his hairline. It probably hurt like hell.

"Thanks. I'm okay." He shook his head and rubbed the mark as we watched her struggle to pick up her belongings. Whatever was in there meant more to her than freedom. "It's what I get for trying to be nice, I guess." He held out his hand again, and she sank down, ending up sprawled on her side. She had some comments in her original tongue about that. To judge from the tone, they weren't exactly friendly.

"Look, just calm down." Dreamy crouched down beside her, safe enough now that the girl couldn't work her own limbs. "SciPol's coming. We'll head back to Earth and get this all straightened out. Okay?"

"Get away from me! Don't touch that!"

Star Boy had already brought her case back to its proper weight. He picked it up. "Hope this isn't explosives or something."

"Not likely, from the way she was handling it." I got down to her eye level, more or less. "Hi again." I held up one hand, transforming it briefly to match what she had. "That's right, isn't it? No bombs, no poisons, no weapons except the ones in the original design?" I tapped her shoulder.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes. "Just keep that thing to yourself, Durlan."

I sighed and stood up. "Don't open that yet," I reminded Star Boy. "Cops and lawyers, you know..."

"Right." A lift door at the waiting room's far end opened, giving out three uniformed station officers. "Love the cap, Dreamy."

"A gift from my sister." She adjusted the brim. "But you can borrow it later."

SciPol patched up Star Boy's wound, then gave us a lift home. He'd been on his way back from a mission near the Outpost. Lightning Lad had sent a message that we were running late and might need backup. But I wasn't really listening to him catching up with Dreamy. My mind was somewhere else.

_You're Durlan, so you can be anything you want, can't you?_

"Star Boy, did she sound familiar to you?"

"Son Bhule?" It was the name that SciPol had matched her ID to when they'd arrived at Exchange Place.

"Dreamy, you knew she was important for some reason. She's the right age, too." I counted off on one hand: "Zir Derbai, Sar Erzah, Jil Sulvat… All the others who came out to meet Violet and me that first day…"

"…are all gone now." Star Boy shook his head. "There were so many people around Aalt City that day, so many faces and voices. I couldn't tell you, Cham."

"Well, we'll know soon enough. Nice work. I mean, both of you."

She smiled. "It's what we're here for."

"So, Dreamy. About borrowing that cap…" said Star Boy.

The cops' shuttle slipped through Earth's atmosphere and headed cityside, towards SciPol's main precinct. A couple of officers sat on either side of our "catch." Bhule was cuffed, her personal items taken elsewhere. She stared straight ahead. Away from us.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Erzah's surroundings looked green and pleasant, despite the wintry sky behind him. There must have been a climate regulator at work. It couldn't have been one of Aalt City's public parks, since he'd only brought along a couple of aides and two of Luthor's bodyguards. An old university, maybe. Something rehabbed after the war. The kind of project Delse would have worked on.

"Yes, I see they've matched her physical profile to our old unit," Erzah said. "Yes, there was a single remaining member whose status has never been confirmed."

It was a good four hours since we'd returned to Earth. We were talking on the lab's main computer. Violet had set down a small pad between us, so we could speak with each other below the good Ambassador's radar.

"However," he continued, "No officials here were aware of Bhule's former identity or her current actions, until now."

"I see." She typed: "_Sure. And magic pixies stuck those damn 'tags' everywhere, too."_

"_He won't say anything that SciPol hasn't already."_ I punched it onto the small screen. "_We shouldn't, either."_

She nodded, as Erzah brought our view in closer. Now it was just everything from the midsection up. Just different gray tones: skin, cloth, and sky.

"That's not _her_ story, Erzah, I said. "In fact, she told SciPol that after the war ended, it was you who helped arrange for her to get citizenship on Earth. Residence, schooling, the whole thing. You even picked out a new name and found new ID for her—it belonged to a citizen who went missing before the overthrow."

"That would be against the law." He folded his hands.

I nodded. "It kind of would, Erzah."

"Chameleon, even if this happened, I assure you that it wasn't with my knowledge. Why make an issue of it, in any case? It was the girl's right, as a U.P. citizen, to leave the homeworld if she chose."

Violet looked at him. "I dunno', Erzah. Wanting to ease transition for your people is fine, but cooked IDs are… maybe a little excessive?"

"If there was any such 'cooking,' Shrinking Violet, Derbai never spoke of it to me. And now…"

The tone of voice was all open regret, but the face was something else. I focused on it, as if I could burn my way through everything, even those stupid lenses over his eyes and the distortions they reflected; through to whatever it was that moved him.

But adult Grystaadians were fireproof.

I typed some more for Violet. "_B's info: about money? He and Derbai: some deal w/Luthor, then dispute about dividing up spoils?"_

I remembered that last dream: being called away by one figment of the past, only to be saved by another. How many times had it happened without my remembering, until Saturn Girl had stepped in? Erzah had tried to make me desert the Legion; to throw out everything I valued most. If Violet hadn't found the "tag" in time...

"_Certainly possible," _she typed. "C'mon, Erzah," Violet continued. "Derbai isn't like that."

"Shrinking Violet," he sighed, "While I appreciate your optimism regarding her—"

"She doesn't just make patriotic speeches to keep the Council happy." More typing: _"I don't care what she's done. If I find out he and Luthor…"_ She deleted that bit and sat still again.

"Chameleon…"

"I'm with Violet." I hated him, and I couldn't afford to show it. I kept my voice level, trying to channel my Dad in the middle of a speech or a project. The way he was always on stage, above it all.

Erzah lifted an eyebrow, making the feelers on that side sway gently back and forth. "How can you be so sure, Legion Friends?"

I shrugged. "Just a hunch." He had to have known that she and Violet spoke to one another, had to have known everything. He'd been her aide, for gods' sake. Just who in hell did he think he was fooling?

"Well…" He adjusted his glasses. "Even comrades, friends, disagree sometimes. Surely you're aware of that."

"Erzah, did you com us for any particular reason?" Violet leaned forward, resting her crossed arms on the desk. "We're pretty busy here."

"My apologies. Please, just try and consider this girl's assertions in context, Shrinking Violet."

"_Did he plan on B's capture?"_ Violet held the pad out to me again. "_SciPol didn't find a 'tag' on her, but…"_

"_No way to know without a mind probe,"_ I typed. _"All we've got is theories, so forget SciPol approving one anytime soon."_

"That context being…?" I asked him.

"Chameleon, Bhule was a child soldier. The way things were in those days…" He shook his head. "I don't expect you to understand."

Violet barreled on. "She's _somebody's_ runner, Erzah. On _somebody's_ payroll. She stashed info at Exchange Place and at least two other locales. SciPol is looking into them now."

"Violet, I agree that's what _she_ believes." He sighed, looking down at whatever an aide had just handed him. "But belief doesn't necessarily equal truth." He murmured something to an aide off screen.

The door to the lab opened. Lyle came in, waved hello, and went in search of something in one of the cabinets nearby.

"So you're saying she's been implanted with false memories?"

He shrugged. "Your words, Legion Friend. Not mine. At any rate, I'm glad she's all right physically, at least. Perhaps if I—"

"Bhule stays under SciPol's care," Violet said. "Here on Earth. That's the Legion's position. For now."

"Well then." He nodded. "If I learn anything signifigant on this end, I'll let you know."

"Likewise," Violet said.

I just nodded, as Erzah pressed a button and vanished.

"Lyle." I waved a greeting as he sat down at the main table, loading something into a field unit.

"Huh." His eyes were on his own screen, as he dusted it with a bit of cloth. "Never fails to amaze me."

"Lyle, is that a new unit?" I walked over to see.

He nodded. "A new used one, anyway. Old one's busted. I'll fill out a requisition for you later tonight, Violet."

She sighed, closed something on the main computer, and walked over. "Please do."

"What's amazing?" I asked.

"Police. They're all excited because Bhule was carrying bank records, and—"

"Wait. She was?" I looked over his shoulder as he zoomed in on images of the discs she'd been carrying. There were at least three dozen, most with the familiar coils, ovals, and obsolete welds.

"They won't announce it 'til tomorrow," he said. "But I've got my sources. Not Good Old Dad, of course..."

"_That's_ amazing?" said Violet. "It's what everyone's been saying all along: that everything goes back to Grystaad's missing assets."

"You misunderstand me, Boss. As usual." Lyle opened up a page and began typing. "Cham, what's the name of that clerk on Weber's World? The one who sleeps with your holo under her pillow or whatever."

"Ylen Clavul, and I never sent her a holo, Smart-Ass. Why?"

"I'm forwarding her the codes stamped on Bhule's discs and asking her if they correspond with any inoperative banks in the U.P. So far, SciPol isn't finding any extant ones. I'm saying I know you and asking her for a rush on it. Is that okay?"

"Would it stop you if he said 'no'?" Violet rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I'm all about ceremony. Which reminds me, Violet. I ran into Phantom Girl in the food hall before. She said check your inbox. She found you a party dress or something."

"She never gives up." Violet scowled. "There's _nothing_ _wrong_ with my dress uniform."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. No pun intended."

Violet folded her arms. "I'd still like to hear more on this whole 'amazing' issue."

"All I'm saying is..." He magnified a disc and studied a code stamped on its outer edge. "…Nobody's noticed both how easy and timely this capture was. Or that it's one hell of a slip-up for experienced criminals to make."

"Hey, I've noticed," I said.

"So have I." Violet nodded. "I talked with Dreamy, checked the dream recorder and its footage, checked her room for 'tags' again…Nothing."

"Did _her_ wardrobe give you any dress-up ideas?" He grinned.

She took a deep breath and covered her eyes for a moment. "Anyway, if Erzah wanted his runner caught, I'm gonna' guess it wasn't quite so soon."

"Maybe," said Lyle.

"Look, even smart people can get overconfident," I said. "If Erzah wasn't sure before that we're on to him, he's gotta' know it now."

"Yeah." Violet stood, leaning her back against the lab table. "And if he knows, you can bet that Luthor does, too."

Lyle nodded. "So what's our next big step, Boss?" He had stopped typing.

"Working on it with Lightning Lad." She moved towards the door. "I've got patrol with Blok, but I'll be back later. You, me, and Detective Cator-Ce at 0800 hours tomorrow, Cham." The door slid open. "Lyle, fill out your requisition tonight, or I swear there'll be Denat B19 in your share of canapés this time tomorrow."

The door closed.

"Uhh... Should I know what Denat B19 is?"

"Commercial bittering agent. Not poisonous, but it makes things unpalatable." He took the unit over to the main computer and began uploading something. "Okay if I put on a little music?"

"Sure." Nobody needed me to be anywhere or do anything. Or at least I decided to pretend as much, for the length of the first tune.

Lyle's collection was all from this continent, but not from the province where he'd been born and raised. It veered like crazy from hot to cold and back, sometimes within the same piece; but I was used to that by now. Strings wailed and percussion stomped on them. A voice cried the same line repeatedly and a chorus threw it back, like they thought tears were funny. "I don't remember hearing this one before. What do these words mean?"

He spun around in the chair and leaned way back, hands behind his head. "Loosely translated: 'Your love smashed the field unit of my heart into a million pieces...' "

I guffawed. " '…So I'm gonna' drink a lake's worth of booze and dance like an idiot until I pass out.' ?"

It was his turn to laugh. "Close. Real close, Cham. You're learning."

I did some organizing around the lab, and an hour ticked by. "I need to go get dinner. You coming?"

"No thanks." He had long since finished the upload and was reading up on organic compounds. "I'm really not hungry."

"Uh, Lyle?"

"Yeah?"

"Look... whatever's wrong, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was a shitty day, but it's over now." He turned a page onscreen. "Things always work out eventually, y'know?"

"Right." I got my own unit from atop the cabinet nearby. "You want me to fill out that form for you? I mean, you'll still have to sign it, but…"

"It won't work. Violet always knows when it's not me." He turned around and gave me the most unconvincing wide-eyed look I'd ever seen on a fellow sentient. "Aren't you scared of what she'll do to you?"

"Lyle..." I warned.

"Or are you scared of what she _won't_ do?"

"Could you _maybe_ take a five minute break from being an asshole? I'm trying to be nice here, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Sorry." He turned back to the screen. "Write it up after dinner."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Detective Cator-Ce was from Xudar, and she'd only been assigned to us a few weeks ago. She was a little older than Imra, but lanky like a kid. Whoever had fitted her suit hadn't known what they were doing. It made her look like a brown paper puppet hoisted up on a cluster of pale yellow stakes.

We sat in the small interrogation room in New Metropolis' main precinct, at a round white table. Bhule sat on her left, in a beige tunic and trousers that arrestees wore while they were in limbo. She was still in bindings.

On Bhule's left was an appointed lawyer, Kev Modene. He was human and in his early forties, maybe, with pale skin and a trim red beard. Somebody had definitely woken him up too early. His light gray suit looked like it had been slept in. His contribution to the meeting ended up being a few stifled yawns, and not much else.

Those of us who could shook hands as Cator-Ce made introductions. Violet read a quick run-through off her pad of some key comments the police had collected from Bhule yesterday. The phrase "all a big misunderstanding" had come up from Bhule's side, several times.

She frowned at the table. "Legion Friend, it's all there. What else do you want?"

"You served with Sar Erzah for over a year, Bhule. Are you sure there's no observations on that you can share with us?"

That made her look up. "So you can hound _him_, too?"

Modene shook his head slowly. "Bhule…"

"You want to hear that he rolled his way to the top over our corpses?" She shook her head. "Damn the U.P., anyway. Why did we ever bother with you?"

"Bhule, that's not how it works." I thought longingly of the coffee in the vending unit outside. It was probably even worse than Lyle's. "We ask. You answer, okay?"

She glared at me. "You think that he did away with the first Ambassador somehow? With help from that native girl—the one who's rich, like you?"

"Why would I think that?"

"I don't care!" Bhule banged her cuffed limbs on the table. Cator-Ce looked exasperated, but Modene hardly moved. "The past is a—a bottomless pit!" She glared at Cator-Ce. "All Erzah did was try and help us climb out of it!" Her lip trembled.

"Please, Bhule." Violet kept her voice calm. "If you'd just—"

"Detective, could I have some water, please?"

The Xudarian opened and closed her beak, then nodded. She could monitor the conversation easily enough through the wrist com she was wearing.

Bhule flexed both "arms" as best she could, as the door clicked shut behind Cator-Ce. For a minute, nobody spoke. Then: "I have some questions for _you_, Shrinking Violet."

Violet glanced at the unmoving lawyer, then nodded. "Go ahead."

"Are you close?" Her eyes darted back and forth, between Violet and me.

I hadn't been expecting that any more than Violet had. "Excuse me?"

"To the rest of them. Your team. I couldn't tell, back then. Now I want to know."

Violet shrugged. "I'm close to some, not so much to others. But we're all teammates, Bhule. We're all Legion."

She scratched at one of her bindings. "We never had time for that. People died of illness, or got captured, or… You know about the mines. We saw Zir Derbai... the way you look towards a carving in a mountain shrine. Something constant, but far away. Awaiting tribute you can't give, because your pockets are always empty."

"Some of your squad didn't trust her." Violet nodded as Cator-Ce came back with a travel glass and set it down.

A shrug, then a sip. Cator-Ce had to hold the glass for her.

"Go on." Violet wrote something on her pad.

"Sar Erzah wasn't like that. Even after the war ended, he always knew where to find us. He never said we were wrong to leave home. He sent us gifts sometimes."

"Gifts?"

"Well, he had some charity send them. Clothes, usually. But he always sent coms, asking how we were. Telling us to never give up on ourselves."

Delse saying, _I haven't given up, Legion Friend._

I began, "Bhule, did you ever—?"

"No! Enough! I never had dead people summon me while I slept!" She rolled her eyes. "I told them-" She motioned at Cator-Ce and Modene. "You, all of that yesterday!"

"You didn't stay on the homeworld," I said. "Couldn't that be the reason you're alive now?"

Her dark eyes glittered at me. "Then you could say that Erzah saved me." Her gaze dropped. "None of it matters now, does it? How can I prove anything to you? Those gifts- I traded them to a native friend in my building— for some sound waves I liked. He moved off-planet last year. I don't even know where he is now."

Violet sighed. "Bhule, we're sorry all this happened to you."

"If you meant that, you'd leave Erzah be! He didn't do anything wrong!"

_He killed your friends and he tried to kill me, you idiot._ I couldn't say that. We were keeping quiet on how Violet had found the "tag" originally. Cator-Ce and some others here knew, but that was it.

I looked at Violet and shrugged. We said our goodbyes and got out of there.

It was cold outside, under the bright sun. You could almost forget that winter wouldn't last forever.

Violet looked at me, took my arm, and marched me to a stand a block west of the precinct. We got a couple of hot drinks and sat down on a heated bench.

"Cham?"

I put the coffee down and wiped my mouth. "D'you think... she really doesn't understand what Erzah is?"

Violet rolled the cylinder between her hands, watching the steam drift away in spirals. "Well, he was her comrade. They relied on each other. Sometimes that... makes it hard to see what's really happening. Until it's too late."

I saw the darkness of space one more time, and a monstrous ship that was shaped like a skull. Garth pleading with the form that had been our friend. _Don't do this, Brainy. Don't make us fight you._

I blinked it away. This kind of cold didn't even compare. A minute lapsed as we watched messengers, commuters, and tourists. "You ever wish you could just... just walk away from everything?"

"Yeah. Not often, though. I just can't picture myself without the Legion." She reached over and squeezed my hand. "You know what I mean?"

I nodded. "Y'know, this is all backwards and upside-down." But I didn't pull my hand away. "_I_ was supposed to be looking out for _you_."

"So we're diversifying." She smiled. "Or cross-training. Whatever you guys call it in business."

**End Ch. 11**

_("Fighting With Fire" is from Sam Phillips' Martinis & Bikinis CD. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Legion World helped again, because they're cool that way. In case you were wondering, Xudar is a canon planet, after a fashion. Xudarians are the crested bird-people you can see in some background scenes on the show. They've also been Green Lanterns, in DC's present-time. Say the detective's name: "Cat-tore-say." The name "Bhule" rhymes with "fuel." Thanks for reading.)_


	12. So Many Rivers To Cross

**So Many Rivers To Cross**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set one and three-quarter years after S2's "Dark Victory." 'T' for violence, language, implied m/f, m/m, f/f. Oh, and implied drinking, too. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. )_

3011

…_while a minority expressed dislike of what Grystaad Council member Ben Laddet called "undue meddling in planetary culture and history…" In other news… noted the U.P. President's reminder of one year remaining before the prohibition against access to Time Tech by members of the Legion can be lifted; per the agreement brokered by officials in mid-3008 [see links]. The Legion's current leader was unavailable for comment…- Galaxy-Planet dot com live feed 2/12/11_

Poor Bouncy. Poor Trip. There was a flare-up with the LSV near our Outpost, maybe an hour after Cham and I returned from SciPol. So the party got postponed one more time.

Lightning Lad was recovering from a minor wound; one he'd collected on another damn Scavenger run-in. Dream Girl was helping monitor elections in the former Citadel colonies not far from Vega. We were stretched out too thin, like that was rare.

It was Phantom Girl who took a team to deal with Tyr, Esper and company. She left the dress in my quarters just before she took off. It was better than I'd expected: straight and shin-length, in a soft green fabric so dark that it was almost black. No lace. No stupid bows or sparkles. Mom and Ruthel would definitely approve.

A black silk jacket from my closet could cover some key places that the dress didn't. Tinya'd also left a big gold comb with small, varicolored hearts attached to it. Hearts were always popular on Terra this time of year. I could wear my hair forward, for old time's sake, and use the comb on the other side.

I gave everything the appropriate surface treatment: an odorless, colorless chem-spray from back home, so it would all shrink and grow with me as necessary. While doing that, I reflected (and not for the first time) how it would have been nice to have Kal-El back, even for just a little while.

Maybe in politician-think, the connection the U.P. bigwigs had drawn between what Brainy had become and time travel made a certain amount of sense. That didn't mean we had to like being banned from using it, nor the ban on adding new members. Bouncing Boy had chafed at this when he was still leader. So had the Founders and Brande. They'd made the bargain only so the U.P. would let Brainy go his own way in peace.

It was destined to be one of those weeks where I missed everyone.

Cham was part of the team that had gone to our Outpost. For three days and three nights, my sleep was restless, and food was a chore. All I wanted to do was work. I kidded myself that these things were unconnected.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

I'd barely gotten to the dining hall for a few bites of breakfast on the morning of Day No. 4 when Bouncing Boy and Saturn Girl showed up to drag me away.

"Where?"

"The Haqq Botanic Center. NJC Sector. Just a press thing." Saturn Girl was munching the remains of an energy square.

"Who's speaking?"

"Dr. Kiwra Antwan. You know the name, don't you?" She shoved the wrapper through a recycling flap by the door.

"Sure." I abandoned the tea I'd barely had time to sip as I followed them down the hall. "From your homeworld. Knows medicine and plant genetics. Invisible Kid met her on Heisenberg Seven a month or so back, so shouldn't he—?"

"Lightning Lad gave him morning monitor so Trip could set up." Bouncy pointed to his own costume. "Don't change. We've gotta' go right now."

I left a few notes in the lab for Lyle. Then we headed west across the river.

"Bouncing Boy," said Saturn Girl, "You should probably, uh…"

"Right." He brushed at the hair near his forehead, an especially pointless gesture on such a windy day. Small crafts darted in the water below us. The bridge's lanes were packed with freight transports and passenger trams. "You remember Muldron? The one who, uh, helped the Espionage Squad on Takron-Galtos a few weeks back?"

His expression almost said it all. Bouncy only had a poker face when he was actually playing cards.

"Trouble?"

A nod. "He got dismissed a few hours ago, along with three of his guards, and taken back to Imsk."

My stomach sank a little. "Because they had something going with Zir Cenbai, besides chat about moopsball scores and what the mess hall had for lunch?"

He nodded, glancing at me, then Saturn Girl. "Right now, they're waiting for their own Counsel."

"How'd they get caught?"

"Cenbai had a little grapevine of his own, behind Muldron's back. He got word to Warden Brugol; turned them in," said Saturn Girl

Thankfully there was nothing this high up for me to collide with. "_He_ turned _them_ in?"

She nodded. "Cosmic Boy's headed out there now. Serrc, too." Our lawyer. I hadn't seen him in person for months.

"And the break-in?" My own people might have staged it. The thought disgusted me. Two of the Grystaadians had ended up seriously hurt. One had been a week recovering. None of them would get out of T-G anytime soon.

"Guess we'll see. Sorry I had to wreck your morning."

"Forget it, Bouncy." I followed them down through a permeable climate dome. There were stone benches and pathways circling the complex. Most of the attendees were standing near the main entrance, where a dark-skinned woman stood behind a nul-grav podium. That was Antwan, paused in mid-speech while Haqq's security tried to sort something out.

"Don't rush me!" A couple of guards were dragging an angry Grystaadian away from the gathering. He yelled over one shoulder, "I'm not some damn _oltaa-kur_!" He had the same cropped feelers as Son Bhule. "So don't stand there like—!"

"Move, Kid!" One guard pulled him harder, as both pro and indy reporters pointed cams their way. "Unless you want the cops here!"

The other guard shook her head at us, before Bouncy could offer help. "They're always all mouth, Sir, nothing more." They marched him to a nearby tram shelter, obviously meaning to wait there until he boarded the next one out.

Saturn Girl nodded at us. _He's agitated, but not violent._

The man who'd been his verbal target was right behind Antwan, silently taking notes. He looked about my age. I knew from his expression that I'd hear that familiar low hum from his feelers, if I stood just a few steps closer.

I got out my own pad, though I wasn't really expecting to hear anything new. We were here for protocol's sake, mostly.

"If we could continue…" Dr. Antwan nodded once in our direction.

There was a holo banner up the steps behind her, advertising an exhibit about the river nearby, and several others around the U.P.

"…hard to predict complete success at this juncture. Correct?" a newsman was saying.

"The U.P. is targeting both species of non-native plants on Grystaad, while accounting for seasonal and geographic variations."

_Her research looked good to me._ I glanced at Saturn Girl. _But do you think that we can we trust her?_

_Well…_ She raised an eyebrow. _Falling out with Lexcorp had to have been a career setback. Antwan's about my age, so..._

Bouncy added, _The enemy of our enemy…_

_She's under a cloud now_, was what Cham would have said. I wished he were here.

"…but these plants have become part of the planet's culture and ecosystem." Another reporter. "Is removal really beneficial in the long term?"

"The toxins they contain cause major health problems for Grystaadians in all stages of life. The majority of their Council concurs that rapid eradication is the best course at this juncture."

"What of implications for other U.P. locales?" Another reporter.

"If you're referring to the toxins, there are no known beneficial applications at present."

"Aren't you contradicting your own colleagues, then?" The reporter wasn't giving up. "Given speculation of considerable genetic overlap between natives of Grystaad and natives of Durla."

"You should speak with Drs. Birg and NaShol on Heisenberg Three. Not my purview. Two more questions, please."

Another reporter shot the three of us a sly look before turning back to her. "This project has had major input from members of the Legion of Superheroes. Relations between the Legion and Alexis Luthor aren't exactly cordial. Any comment?"

I saw a brief, telltale glow in Antwan's brown eyes, and Imra's answering pink. So did Bouncy.

"Alexis Luthor," said Antwan, "Has come out strongly for eradication. She's also contributed monetarily to the operation. I believe—"

"But didn't Luthor dismiss you from her own employ?" Another reporter jumped in.

"Ma'am…" Antwan squinted a little against the emerging sunlight. "I believe you're ascribing personal feelings where none exist."

The reporter rolled her eyes, turned and smiled at Bouncy. "Am I, Sir? Your previous leader was foursquare against Ms. Luthor even being paroled. How does the Legion feel about that now?"

He took a deep breath, as all eyes turned on us. "Ma'am… What Dr. Antwan said." He calmly held up a hand. The reporter looked away again, disappointed.

_Oh, Brainy, Kal, Kell, if only you could see us now._ Maybe Bouncy's "away game" had improved a whole lot, while I'd had my attention turned somewhere else.

"Thank You, My Friends," Antwan told the group. Some of them muttered and looked displeased. "I'm sure we'll speak again soon." She whispered something to her assistant as she stepped down from the podium and towards the building's entrance.

As he approached us, I saw that he was about my height. His bracelets were brass-colored, showing just below the sleeves of a plain blue jacket.

"Nik Selve?" Saturn Girl returned his slight bow. Then we all shook hands.

"Legion Friends. It's a pleasure to meet you." Selve motioned towards the building's entrance. "This way, Please."

He took us up to the Center's second floor: a corner office with a curved picture window, and plants, of course. There were refreshments from the cafeteria waiting for us. The tea was weak, but at least it was hot.

"So your teammate had little medical training herself." Dr. Antwan passed a plate to me. "Yet she was able to spot the symptoms on the prisoner's fingertips?"

I took a few crackers and a piece of fruit. "Invisible Kid brought back a mountain of new info the last time he saw you. Phantom Girl was the one who helped him organize it."

Bouncy took the plate from me and mumbled, "How many extra monitor shifts did she charge him?"

"Better her than me. That's all I know."

"Takron-Galtos' medics had dismissed it as some kind of minor allergy." Dr. Antwan sighed. "I suppose research can't be top priority in a prison, though."

Selve watched the images from the desk's central projector, ignoring the food. Medics had shot this not long after our trip out there. There were our "friend" Cenbai's hands, in close-up. The once-uniform expanse of gray skin was spattered with both darker and lighter pigments.

Magnification and time lapse showed the cells degenerating. Over time, the skin's discoloration would spread as its defensive abilities failed. Once-harmless substances would enter the body and wreak havoc everywhere.

"We once thought of this… change, as just superficial: what must happen to everyone when they grew older." Selve shook his head. "Anyone reaching the range of forty standard in the last three generations probably suffered something like this?"

I nodded. The culprits were the same two plants whose flowers had helped cause so many "mine" deaths. Their roots had leached dozens of minerals from both soil and water. They'd brought on a slow-motion form of malnutrition, made worse by Grystaad's cornucopia of other problems. "Any pharmacenter in the U.P. can mix up a simple treatment for a handful of credits."

"In time to save them." A scowl. "But too late to save most of our parents and grandparents. The Zirs always did proclaim that the gods loved them before everyone else."

Dr. Antwan shook her head a little. "Selve…"

"I'm sorry, Dr. Antwan, Legion Friends." He looked at his own hand. "It's ungracious of me. I know this research will help _us_ as we mature."

Saturn Girl stirred her own drink. "What province are you from, Selve?"

"Miruom. Western Hemisphere. It could flourish again, with work." He smiled. "I've read of forests in the Western region of this continent that resemble what it likely was before the Junta's time."

"Probably work for you in this hemisphere if you want it, Selve." Bouncing Boy finished a piece of fruit. "Your people have roots down all over the U.P. these days."

Selve's orange eyes went darker for a moment. "All the more reason to go home when my studies are complete. We need physicians and scientists _there._ Or else we fought only to enrich other worlds, not ourselves." He crumpled an empty cup in one fist.

"Selve..." Antwan's voice was soft. We weren't privy to whatever else she was telling him.

Bouncy put down his drink. "I'm sorry, Selve. Dr. Antwan. I didn't mean to—"

"No, Legion Friend." He stood up. "The apology is mine. Really, it's been a pleasure."

"Doctor…" Bouncy said, after Selve had shaken our hands and hurried out.

"Bouncing Boy, don't worry. You've actually helped me, believe it or not." She keyed a few more data codes into my pad before handing it back. "I've suggested for days that he visit his brother across the Hudson—before we return to Heisenberg. Now he feels guilty enough to actually go."

"His brother emigrated and now they don't talk?" He backed up his chair as a cleaning 'bot sailed into the room. It began gathering up our debris from the desk.

"Oh, they talk, after a fashion," Antwan sighed. "You were there for some of it downstairs."

Bouncy nodded. "Yeah."

"What was he shouting outside, before? I stood up with the rest of them. "_Oltaa-kur?_ I can't place it."

"Used to be a catch-all for several home-brewed caustics," said Antwan. "Later it became slang for self-inflicted wounds. Self-hatred."

"You're talking about caustics they used in combat?" I asked.

A nod. "When I finished school," Antwan said as we walked out, "I spent a few months on Grystaad, traveling with a relief crew in and around Seire while I did research."

We emerged into the bright hallway. I saw more of the same holo-banners that had been outside.

She tapped her own temple. "Even a low-level telepath can pick up impressions, inadvertently, in a stressful environment. Before and during the war, people's main thoughts were probably day-to-day survival. But after the war, things they'd suppressed…"

We got on the lift. Antwan motioned at one wrist and forearm. "Some of the older survivors would burn themselves, under the bracelets where it was easy to hide. Using caustics over and over again, until the skin couldn't regenerate without medical help."

By now, we'd returned to the main entrance of the complex. "That young man who succeeded Zir Derbai… a friend almost literally dragged him into our infirmary one day. They were both shouting, furious. The medics and I thought they would come to blows, right there in front of us."

"You treated him, didn't you?" said Bouncy.

"We treated physical wounds. We weren't counselors, Bouncing Boy. We could only suggest that a patient speak with one. There was no authority to make them do so."

I looked through the tinted glass doors and saw the sky clearing. "Thanks for your input, Dr. Antwan."

"For whatever good it does." She sighed. "I'm better at fathoming plants than people."

"Doctor," said Saturn Girl, "Every 'impression' we get right now is one we didn't have before."

Antwan nodded and shook her hand. "Well, between the Legion and Lexcorp, maybe everything will be all right now. The eradication will go according to plan and…"

Bouncy shook his head. "Doctor, the press isn't here now. You don't have to make nice with Luthor for our sakes. Honest."

Antwan nodded. "Then I'll try and keep my eyes open. Thank you again for coming."

"Talk about luck," I said to Imra on the flight home. "You saw in her memory that Erzah had been her patient?"

"It was Selve's brother who jogged her memory. I linked together a few things for her, after that."

"Like Luthor suddenly noticing a low-level researcher in her giant company and making sure she got axed?"

She nodded. "Alexis never did care much for telepaths. That's another piece of luck for us, actually."

We were back across the river now. "Saturn Girl, what about the friend?"

"All Kiwra remembered was: _Male, from the same unit as Erzah._"

"Uh huh." I couldn't suppress a yawn as we touched down. "I'd better get over to the lab."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Someone was waiting when I arrived. "Hey, Lightning Lad." He looked comfortable enough, perched on a stool by the lab table. "All those pieces of your spine back where they should be?"

"Yeah." He put down whatever he'd been reading: probably an update from the Outpost team. "It doesn't even rattle or twang anymore." His mechanical hand reached over, capturing the box of tea I had just taken from a cabinet.

"Hey! What's—?"

"Trip gave me a clean bill. Now let's talk about you, Violet."

"Huh?" I tried to get the box back, but he stood up and held it out of my reach.

"Have you gotten a full night's sleep even once this week?"

"Lightning Lad, I'm not—" But he was right. I was so tired that using my flight ring to get my prize back didn't even occur to me.

"Fine. But I'm keeping this." He backed away from me, towards the door. Also, I'll be back here in half an hour. Unless the Fatal Five are coming back as the Fatal Fifteen, you'd better be gone."

"What if another Sun-Eater shows up in the afternoon mail?"

He smirked. "Send the carrier to my office. I'll sign for it. You've got circles under your eyes the size of compact reservoirs. Drink some recovery fluid and make sure you get at least four hours sleep today. Understand?"

"But—"

"That's an order, Shrinking Violet." He marched out.

_Yes, Captain._ I added pre-leadership Garth to the ever-growing parade of people I missed. Then I found a bag of green recovery fluid in the nearest med-kit, and gulped it down while I checked everyone's status on the main com. Phantom's team was on its way home. No serious injuries. The LSV had been sent packing. Lyle was probably waiting for Chemical King to come in with the group from our Outpost. They'd had some kind of fight. Cham had mentioned before he'd taken off that it was making Lyle tougher to deal with than usual.

Personally, I wasn't sure how he could tell the difference, but right now it didn't matter. I had one more thing to take care of before Garth came back.

I found a name for the Lexcorp subsidiary that had employed Antwan. Their official reason for dismissal had been, "Poor work habits." I put in a request for any patient lists covering the time she'd been there.

Kiwra wasn't a 12th-level mind. Her powers weren't comparable to Imra's, but she was no fool. She would have remembered a name or face, if Erzah's friend had gone on to do anything "important." I figured on a clerk or laborer, somebody who'd stayed on the homeworld. Somebody like Tran Delse.

I was sure Luthor's people would be gracious and get right on it. We were all such good friends nowadays, weren't we?

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

"Violet! C'mon!" It was Triplicate Girl, or some of her, buzzing me in the lab.

I'd ended up sleeping most of the day away. My dreams a confused jumble: Brainy and I in the lab, which was inexplicably outdoors, in Haqq's courtyard. He held a trio of card-sized holos in his hands. Images of Colu, Imsk, and Durla. He was telling me something, but I couldn't make out the words.

I'd changed for the party on awakening, thinking that it couldn't hurt to get there a little early in case Trip needed some last-minute help. That plan had lasted for as long as it took the latest SciPol bulletin to show up on my room com. I'd torn off to the lab, and stayed there.

"I'll be right there, Trip!"

"You said that forty-five minutes ago!"

Everyone who'd been away was back by now. The party had been going for an hour. It was early evening. The sky was darkening outside to match my general mood.

I sighed and let her in. White Trip, as it turned out.

"You picked one hell of time to go all first-year shy on us." She was wearing a short, decorated top and a long white skirt with a slit almost clear up the right side. Her hair was pinned up.

"That looks really nice, Trip."

"You don't look so bad yourself, Lab Lass. I'm glad I couldn't send Cham after you." He was finishing up patrol with Colossal Boy. "I'd have lost you both for rest of the night. Probably."

"Cheerful thought," I muttered at the main com screen, glad she couldn't see my expression.

"Violet…"

I turned around again. "Trip, I'm sorry. It's just that… I'm no use to you or anyone when I'm this pissed off!"

She sighed. "Violet, it's not your fault SciPol released that girl and waited twenty-four hours to let us know."

Son Bhule. "And now she's gone!" I kicked a desk drawer shut with a green-ribboned, black dress boot. Tinya had offered me silver heels, but even my sense of comradeship had its limits. "Probably straight back to Erzah, who's capable of anything, Trip! Anything!"

"So? Nobody can be everywhere at once." She smiled a little. "Who can you believe on that front if not me?"

I'd had the tracer program behind me running for three days straight. Cham had modified it for us. The graphics were like crossed and interlocked tributaries, representing interplanetary bank orgs.

We were using it to analyze the info that SciPol had impounded from Bhule. It matched her codes to a multitude of possible sources. Originally, they'd flowed in a riot of colors and directions, to/from locales all over the U.P. SciPol's original program hadn't had this kind of speed or accuracy on obsolete records.

White strode over and studied the pictures with me. "Clever." There was a high chirp when a new route popped up; a low chirp when it was eliminated from consideration and "dried up" into a black-and-white outline.

I nodded. "Well, we have to be."

"Yeah. Big shoes to fill. Same as always." She sighed. "Still, this won't run any faster if you spend all night staring at it. Am I right?"

The codes stacked themselves neatly in a column on the right side of the screen, as they finished being traced. Most of the routes still prominent now were concentrated between two planets: Imsk and Terra.

I shrugged. "I suppose not."

The information Cos and Serrc had brought back from Takron-Galtos dovetailed nicely with all this. Lalo Muldron and his subordinates had wanted money. Cenbai had promised them plenty, in exchange for a ticket out of jail. But somewhere a wire had gotten crossed. Cenbai's "abductors" should never have shown up when the Espionage Squad was already there. Maybe we really were on a lucky streak, sort of.

She sighed and pulled over another chair. "So, if Muldron was from Cargg, and if these banks were on Cargg, _I_ could sit down here all night brooding, and you'd be totally okay with that?"

"All right, all right." I stood up. "It's just— how did Erzah and Cenbai conspire when they weren't allowed to ever meet?"

"Oh, c'mon, Violet." She rolled her eyes as we headed for the door. "Like there've never been spies on Takron-Galtos before?"

"Okay. So why did Cenbai have this sudden change of heart? We sure didn't get through to him before."

"Uh, gratitude for fixing his skin problem?"

I snorted. "Trying to process that, and failing." I turned back at the door for one last look. "Computo, save all settings and programs. Lights down."

"Your processor needs some downtime." She took my arm and pulled. "You're about three drinks behind everyone else. So move it!"

I scrambled to follow her. Even in high heels, she took big strides. "Is that my doctor's order?"

"You're damn right it is."

**End Ch. 12**

_("So Many Rivers To Cross" is by Jodi Siegel & Daniel Moore. Find it on Marcia Ball's CD So Many Rivers. Lyrics posted to my LJ. "Kiwra" is pronounced "Q'-Ra," and "Selve" rhymes with "Shelve." Thanks for reading.)_


	13. The Madness of Our Love

**The Madness of Our Love**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set one and three-quarter years after S2's "Dark Victory." 'T' for violence, language, quite a bit of drinking, m/f sex [non-explicit], __implied __m/m. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. ) _

3011

_At sunup,  
I walked around the riverbank, hauling fruit,  
Over the stone bridge, hauling sweets  
Through the mountain air, hauling wine…_

_At sundown,  
I walked through the mountain air with tired limbs  
Over the stone bridge with empty pockets  
Around the riverbank with sweetness on my skin…_

_Come near, come here  
Come taste before it's washed away…_

_-Grystaadian folk song. Year of origin unknown. Translation by Nik Vaole, bandcam dot ind, 2/14/10._

Patrol was over. I'd changed for the party and was finally headed upstairs. _Four days since I've seen or even talked to her. Four long, long days._

The lift door flew open before I could even tap the keypad. "Hey, Chameleon! Glad I caught you!"

That made one of us. Still, he didn't look too bad. His light green suit was pressed, even if it was also a decade out of style. He'd cut his hair. That weird flourish in the back that always made me think of a Red Copter's tail was gone.

"Yeah? What's going on, Nemesis?"

"Lightning Lad needs a favor." He pointed back down the hall. "Shouldn't take too long. I'll explain on the way."

I understood in a hurry why he'd wanted my help in particular. I put on the early evening newsfeeds so we'd have company in the library.

"Anything?" He had his pad in hand while he hovered in mid-air, just beyond the uppermost stacks. "He swore they'd be somewhere around here."

I was an Erisian _Huskule_. It looked like a water rat, but with a longer neck and fuller tail. It was agile and had excellent eyesight, even in near-darkness. It also thrived in cramped, dusty environs, which made it perfect for searching this far up in the stacks. Ten minutes of scrabbling around, calling out titles and numbers from a "room" about as spacious as a shoebox. Then twenty minutes. Finally: "Is it JIN 199.278.C64-xx?" _Please say yes._

He tapped on the pad. " 'Mineral Dyeing Techniques of the Transitional Mars Colonies.' Purple case, right?"

I squinted with my large black eyes. "Yup. Silver lettering?" _Garth, I'm glad I voted for you, but sometimes you're a real flake. Leave the damn scan-tape on the box next time!_

"That's it!"

A minute later, I had my humanoid shape back, and he had the case tucked into a jacket pocket. As soon as we hit the ground, he took a bright-colored gift sleeve from another pocket. Once he'd removed the outside of the case, its contents slid easily into the sleeve.

"…The rest of Council has their own opinions, which I don't share." Ben Laddet's voice came through a feed window, live from Grystaad's capital. "Given Alexis Luthor's own… problematic history, her current accord with the Legion is not something that ought to inspire anyone's confidence."

"Computo, close first window."

He was slow and methodical tying up the ribbon, but I needed a few minutes to get the dust off my suit anyway. "What the blazes made him hide the engagement gift up there?"

Nemesis smirked. "He figured it's the last place they'd find it, since Bouncy hates the library and Trip usually studies in the infirmary."

I shook my head, brushing off my purple-red jacket until its bronze embroidery showed up again. "Right. Then, being Garth, he forgot exactly where it was and what he'd called it, until the last possible minute." I sneezed.

"Well, he has had some stuff on his mind lately."

_Haven't we all?_

"Scavenger attacks have discouraged most relief efforts," Laddet's speech continued from somebody else's site. "Apart from her own, of course. Isn't it obvious that—?"

"Computo, close second window." I crouched down to wipe the dust off my dress shoes.

Nemesis stood up, the wrapped film holos tucked neatly beneath one arm. "I remember when it was just random oddballs who thought we were all cozy with Luthor." He frowned. "Now it's elected officials, too."

"A few. Does that matter?" I knew it did.

He shrugged. "Thanks for your help."

"…continues to surround the fate of the one-time Ambassador, who's been missing since late last year. SciPol Chief Investigator Avrim Valenz denies rumors that the search will soon be called—"

"Computo, close third window." My nose still itched a little. "Sure. Uh, should we give him another ten minutes? Maybe there's some other treat he squirreled away in here and hasn't remembered yet."

He snickered. "That's it. Think positive." We should have been tearing out of there, but both of us were transfixed by the feeds. Hoping to hear something that wasn't old news.

"…next week. In celebration of Spring, and to commemorate the mapping of several important locales throughout U.P. space by legendary explorer Yosvan Aalt. Chief among them: The Aalt Cloud, located not far from..."

…Luthor's planet. Derbai had to be there, behind that cloud: dead or alive. Its radiation would explain why Saturn Girl and Dawnstar had lost her trail just outside Makathor. Luthor was still stonewalling everyone who wanted to investigate there, and we didn't have anything on her that could have forced the issue.

"…merged to become Ridj-Wald Intergalactic Finances! Now with more locales in your system to serve you better! Learn more about us at—"

"How's that tracer program working out since you tweaked it?"

"Faster than it was. Not as fast as I'd like, though." I shook out my jacket one last time. "Computo, close all windows. Switch off lights."

We headed upstairs to Balcony/Deck S-3. It was up and running for the first time in about three years. Lightning Lad had protested using such an "exposed" area to celebrate, but Bouncy and Trip had leaned on him until he'd finally given way.

Nemesis looked at me from the corner of his eye as we got back on the lift. "Look, Chameleon, I know you don't like me, but—"

"Hey, I've never—"

He cut me off with a hand-wave. "Doesn't matter. I can't stay long tonight. Patrol. When you see Shrinking Violet, just remind her I'm around if she needs more help with her case."

"Grystaad?"

He nodded.

"Why's it interest _you_ so much?" This time it was me who waved him quiet. "I don't mean 'Mind your own business.' We can always use more help. I just want to know why?"

He stayed silent for a few beats. Then he held up the gift bag. "In the holos, civil war is this big adventure tied up in a bow. But in real life, it's…" He put it down again. "I just don't like it when people get taken by someone who just… just sees history as something she can line her pockets with. Especially when she's already got plenty."

_That's something we've got in common. Who knew? _ "Uh-huh." We'd reached the walkway to the deck. I could see where its seals and supports had been checked and rechecked. Much stronger than they'd been back before Imperiex. Back before a whole lot of things. "I'll tell her."

"Thanks."

We were paused by the entranceway. I rested a hand near the keypad. "Uh, sorry you can't stay."

"I don't mind. Don't get me wrong. Bouncy and Trip are great people, but all this Valentine stuff…" He shook his head. "No thanks."

"How come?"

"Well, for starters, I don't trust anything that originated with a saint. Saints are always at least half-crazy. At least they are where I'm from."

Was he trying to be funny? It was hard to tell. With Nemesis, his face just didn't match up with whatever he was saying. Or that's how it usually seemed, to me.

He continued, "Then there's—"

"'Um, excuse me!" Phantom Girl floated right through the door and touched down in front of us. "Why're you two just standing around out here jawing?"

"Sorry," we both said.

"Oh, never mind! Have you got—?"

"Yeah. It's right here." Nemesis held up the gift.

There wasn't much to her black dress. The white cape over it was long, opaque, and fastened in front with a red gem big enough to double as a doorstop. "Then come _on_!" She took each of us by one arm and pulled us through the door in phantom form.

"Uh, thanks." He grinned at her. "But shouldn't we have punched in our entry codes, at least? Lightning Lad—"

"—Worries _way_ too much." She had solidified us again, just a few steps from the bar.

"Oh, and _you_ never did when you first became leader," I said.

"Watch out." She folded her arms and gave me an exaggerated glower. "I _may_ decide to run again."

I raised an eyebrow at her. _I'll believe that when I see it._

She sighed. "Nemesis, could you take that gift over there?" She pointed a few meters away from the bar, to a small square table with a gold-colored cloth. It was already stacked with presents.

He nodded. "No problem. Have fun."

"Don't forget to try the cake!" she called after him. "It's amazing!" Then she turned back to me, hands on hips. "It's always the same with you these days. A party is just one more excuse to hole up in the lab."

"Uh, it was the library this time. Plus I was drafted."

"Sure. And you weren't stalling by talking to Nemesis. Since when are _you two_ such good friends?"

"Phantom…"

"Reminiscing about dances past?"

"Yup. Told him all about the time the class bully shoved me face-first into a punchbowl. Y'know, to see me sprout gills."

She stifled a laugh. "Oh, sorry. I know that's not really funny."

"Wait another decade." I rolled my eyes. "By then I'm sure it'll be hilarious."

"So listen..." She brushed some stray dust off my shoulder. "You heard Dream Girl's warnings; no shop talk tonight, right?"

"Yup. In person and in writing for a total of fifteen times." I rolled my eyes. "Or sixteen. Something like that."

"Then _let go_ for just one night. We all promised to." She straightened one of her long black gloves. "And if you can't do that, fake it." Her face softened and she adjusted one of my lapels. "Didn't all those spy holos teach you more than just how to dress well?"

"Tinya…"

"I need to go check up on Wolf." She kissed my cheek. "See you later." She moved off into the crowd.

The night was rainy and cold, but the rebuilt dome over us kept all that outside. It was one-way. We could see out, but onlookers couldn't see in. I was silently thankful that I'd been on patrol most of the afternoon. Triplicate Girl, Event Planner was a far tougher boss than Triplicate Girl, Battle Strategist.

I didn't even like beer, but I took one from a passing nul-grav tray anyway. It gave me something to do while I looked around. The ceiling had a ring of colored lanterns that floated clockwise. Images of hearts and flowers floated between them, counter-clockwise. The music drifting down on us was slow and heavy with brass. Bouncy and XS had upgraded some old capsule speakers and hidden them inside the lanterns.

I found the snack table, swapping my bottle for a plate and a few desserts. They also had hearts and flowers. Invisible Kid waved from a few meters away. Chemical King had a hand on his arm, while they both smiled at something Dawnstar was saying. I waved back, on the verge of going over to say hello. But there was a tap on my left shoulder.

I turned around. "Violet..."

She was standing next to White Trip. For a second, I couldn't breathe.

"Looking good, Cham." White grinned. "Glad you could make it." She patted me on the shoulder. "Stand by for the toast." She raced off to join Bouncy and her "sisters."

"Cham. Violet." Lyle had crossed to us, but he hardly slowed down at all. "Hey, look. _Cyrradzo_." He pointed at a tall, tri-colored bottle with an assortment of bright-colored cups around it. "Is that the real deal? From Trip's homeworld?"

"Yeah," said Violet. "I hope she likes this brand. It was the lab's present to her and Bouncy."

Lyle picked up a shot in each hand. "Now I'm glad I remembered to sign the card." He grinned at me. "Better drink slowly, Lightweight Lad." He moved off before I could think up a good retort. Not that I was in any state of mind for that.

Violet scowled at his retreating back. She looked fantastic._ So say it. Say anything, Jackass. For the love of—_

"Hi." Her hand brushed my shoulder. "I would've come by earlier, but…"

"Yeah, I know. Our fearless leader ordered everyone to not bother you."

"He's all heart, isn't he?" She grinned.

"Uh-huh. By the way… Here." I offered her the plate. "You, uh, look nice."

"Thanks. So do you." She took a cake in one hand and a drink in the other.

The shot I picked up smelled strong enough to eat through its own ceramic shell. I hoped that one polite sip wouldn't dissolve me into a puddle.

"So, was patrol okay?" But she laughed before I could answer. "Look. Poor Lightning Lad."

I followed her gaze to the other side of the deck. He looked our way for an instant, then back up to the top of the dome, like he expected a horde of Dominators to rip through it any second. Saturn Girl kept shooting Cos amused looks over Garth's shoulder.

"Was he like this during the set-up, too?"

"From what I saw of it, pretty much." I snickered. "Guess it really is lonely at the top."

We watched Cos reach out and literally turn Garth back in the proper direction. It set us both off all over again.

"Okay, seriously," I managed between sputters. "Who swapped out their brains while I was tangoing with the LSV?"

Her face turned serious again. She angled her head and studied me. "People change." The gold ornament in her hair made chiming sounds. "They go forward." She moved closer. "Don't they?"

I could smell the scent in her hair, but I couldn't place what it was. I thought of summer; of salt air and beach grass. "Well, uh—"

"Okay, Everyone! Grab a drink if you haven't got one yet! Let's do this!" Bouncy rolled around the deck's pathway, getting everyone herded into a semi-circle. He and Trip went to stand near its top, once he got back to normal shape.

Timber Wolf was still trying to arrange things near the main table when Tinya shot out a red-jeweled arm and dragged him into the circle by his jacket collar. He only protested a little.

The ear candy from the speakers died down, and everyone was quiet.

"Great. Um…" Bouncy was wearing a black suit with a blue tie. By some miracle, he'd almost gotten his hair to lie flat. I could see his parents nearby. It was obvious that Miryam Taine, not Charles, Sr., was who his looks came from. Charles was tall and thin. His graying blond hair was curly.

Cosmic Boy reached over and nudged his shoulder. "Should I have Computo beam in a prompter, or—?"

Everyone laughed. Trip put an arm around Bouncy's shoulders and held her drink higher.

"I'll keep this simple. Thanks everyone for coming. Thanks for your good wishes, and…" He sniffled a little when he looked at Trip. "…the holos. I really like the holos." He raised his drink.

We sipped. Under the fire of alcohol, I could taste something like fruit just before it ripened completely. "Whoa."

"You okay?" Violet braced one hand against my shoulder.

"Y-yeah." I meant to look around and see if it had knocked anyone else sideways, but she was looking right in my eyes. "Uh…"

"I'm so glad that so many of our dear friends could be here." It was Trip talking now. "But also, let's drink to the ones who couldn't be here. For whatever reason." She raised her cup again. "We remember you. We love you."

Her voice was calm, but her face dared anyone to argue with her. Nobody did. There was a moment's silence before we all drank again.

"Okay, so much for ceremony." Bouncy was blushing furiously as she hugged him. "So go have a good time!" There was an assortment of claps and cheers. "Oh, and Cham?"

"Yeah?" I looked at him as people started to move off again.

"Talk to Wolf." Bouncy was grinning. "He's got something important to tell you."

The music started up again, before I could puzzle that one out. Violet and I watched the founders move in to talk privately with Bouncy and Trip. Then Violet gulped down the rest of her drink and took another cake off my plate.

"Cham, I— Listen, I thought maybe later—"

I was afraid to look straight at her, so I set my cup aside and picked up a cake myself. "Oh, _now_ I get it."

"Get what?"

"Bouncy's comment. This is_ my _damn chocolate from last Fall. Am I right?"

She snorted and laughed, making the gold hearts chime some more. "Probably."

"Should I go pop Wolf one before or after he brings out the last tray?"

She finished off the rest of the small square. "Definitely after." She hooked an arm through mine. "Y'know, I never did find out how that movie ended."

"Well, the—"

"It's okay. You can tell me while we go look at the view."

When I'd come back with the rest of Phantom's team from fighting the LSV, it had been overcast and icy. Now the clouds were beginning to break up. The freezing rain had thawed, then slowed to a drizzle. Now it was only mist.

We helped ourselves to one of the benches that encircled the deck. I put my plate down and looked at Violet, feeling strange. Not because of proximity. We'd been this close before, more and more often in the past few weeks. But my center was weightless, unmoored: the space where work would be, normally.

Or it was just the _Cyrradzo_.

Violet grinned. "Stuff's got some kick, huh?" Of course, it wasn't fazing her at all.

"It's not that." I shook my head, trying to clear it. _Constellation J_ had ended with the spy on her knees in the ruins of a sacred temple, cursing her terrible decisions and worse luck. If I didn't do something soon, that's where I'd end up: minus the killer orchestra and the dramatic desert sunset for background.

She stood up. "I'll grab you a coffee and some protein. Be right back."

I got up again myself, and looked over the safety rail, out at the night sky. It seemed to expand, closing over a space the shape of vanished teammates, lost friends. Whether or not they'd gone willingly didn't seem important just then.

I raised the rest of my drink in that direction and finished it. It stung all the way down, but maybe that made sense. _When we have time._ I tacked that onto Trip's _love_ and _remembrance_, in my mind.

"Think fast, secret agent!" A familiar voice from my left, followed by a flying bear hug that almost knocked me backwards into the railing.

"Gods, Val!" I clasped his hand after he finally let me loose. "You're a menace with that damn ring!"

Karate Kid grinned. "Sorry, but you did help me get it, remember?" His black suit had red and white trim.

XS stood a step or two behind him, looking elegant in a blue and white suit. She waved at me and stage-whispered, "I don't know him."

"Val, what are _you_ doing here? I thought you were stuck at the Outpost until half past May or something."

"Sun Boy took over for me until tomorrow afternoon. I forgave him some poker debts."

I burst out laughing. "Dirk Morgna, licensed party animal, _let_ you just leave him out in the middle of nowhere?" I shook my head. "Must've been one hell of a debt."

He grinned. "Trust me: you don't want to know." He gestured in the direction of several pretty girls: friends of Trip's from her medical classes. They were chatting with some of the team a few meters away. "I wish I could photograph the scenery tonight. Just to rub his face in it later."

"Just how much've you had to drink?" I pretended to be dismayed. "You never used to have such a mean streak."

"No, but I learned from the experts."

XS drained the last of her beer. "I can lend you my wrist-cam, Val. Anything for a noble cause."

"Really?" he said.

"No. Not really." She held out the empty bottle. "But maybe you can build your own from this."

He sighed. "So, Cham, are you going down to the Firecracker with Lightning Lad and the others later on?"

I shrugged. "Haven't decided yet. On the one hand, free drinks. Change of scenery. On the other hand…"

"…Lightning Lad's endless stupid jokes about how we're still too young to get in," he finished.

XS rolled her eyes.

"Is there something wrong, Jenni?" Val raised an eyebrow at her.

She vanished in a sudden gust of wind, only to reappear seconds later with three more beers and another plate of cakes. "Here." She vibrated the caps off the bottles before handing them around. "Now you've got something to cry into, at least."

"I've never understood why they don't explode when you do that," Val said.

"Family secret." She smirked. "Don't change the subject. I'm younger than either of you and you don't hear _me_ whining all the time."

"Younger by how much? Like a couple of weeks?" I shook my head. "Seriously, we need some new blood on this team."

"He's right, Jenni." Val took a drink. "Somebody raw, who we can pick on and order around."

"And lie to about the good old days?" She grabbed a cake and flicked its heart decoration against his chest. "Let this bleed for you. 'Scuse me. I'm gonna' re-check the sound mix." She sped off again, dodging around a dozen people in roughly three seconds. I managed to grab her abandoned plate while it was still in mid-air. So I couldn't have been all that drunk.

"Damn. She looks so…" Val brushed off the bit of candy as Violet returned. "Oh, Violet. Hey."

"Hey, Val." She put down another plate and cup so they could shake hands. "How are you?"

"Great. Just great." He wasn't really looking at us, though. "Uh, I'll be right back, okay?" Of course he was lying. He disappeared almost as quickly as Jenni had, but a lot more quietly. For a guy who wasn't supposed to have any powers…

"Did I miss something?"

"Apparently we've both missed a lot of poker games at the Outpost." I set the extra plate to one side. "Oh, and maybe Jenni's birthday. But I'm not sure."

"Uh-huh." She held out her own plate and cup to me as we both sat down again. "Here. Those little green and white things are called _quedys_. Try one. They're good."

The circles were some kind of pickled root, with a texture like Terran onion. Something fibrous, but mild, was stuffed in the center. That is, it was mild until I followed it with a sip of coffee. Then my mouth and throat both went up in flames. Capsaicin, or something like it. I tried to swear, but all that came out was a rasp.

Violet began laughing. "Is your head clearer now, Detective?"

I pointed at the beer that XS had left for me one seat over, while I rasped some more.

"Won't help. Eat some of the cheese bread. That'll put the fire out."

I grabbed one of the small, dry wedges that were also on the plate. Sure enough, the attack died down, after several frantic bites.

"You… _you…_" I said, breathing hard.

"Sorry. I know Terrans give candy this time of year, but that's not really my style." She grinned around another cup of Trip's liqueur. "You should see your eyes! The blacks are like pinpoints, Cham!" She laughed some more as I picked up a napkin, wiping sweat off my face.

"…scientists are… a bunch of… sadists!" A few people nearby looked over at us curiously, but I didn't pay attention to them. I could almost speak like a normal person again, after another piece of bread. "Where in hell did you learn about that?" I blinked the water out of my eyes.

"Trip mentioned it." She picked up another one of the little monsters and chewed thoughtfully. Without the coffee as activator, it was just a harmless piece of pickled vegetable. "Lyle would've been a better victim, but he and Condo left right after the toast." She set the plate aside. "I guess they wanted some time alone."

She studied the skyline for a moment or two, before turning back to me. "Uh, you're not mad are you?"

"No, no." I drank some more coffee. "I figure every decent squad leader needs a trick or two up her sleeve."

"Decent? Huh." She went back to watching the stars.

The deck began to get quieter. People were probably getting ready to head downtown. Up above, the speakers played some pop cover of a melody I knew well. Almost four years since Grystaad had become an open world. Delse's waves had gone clear around the U.P., thanks to an unknown number of homesick émigrés.

"I recognize that," Violet murmured. "Even through all the syrup."

"Uh-huh." This version had no lyrics, but I remembered how Delse had explained them. _Absence isn't nothingness. Goodbye isn't oblivion. Look again, as many times as it takes to really see. _

When I put out a hand to touch her face, she laid her own hand over it. "I— I was just wondering…"

"Wondering what, Detective? Whether I'm decent all the way through?"

My heart jumped several meters. "Commander, do _you_ want to spend some time alone? Uh, I mean... should we—?"

She stood up, looking grave. There was a trace of pink in her face, for a second or two.

_Great. Just terrific, Reep. All that schooling and this is the most poetic line you could spin? _

"Cham, I— I think we should say goodnight."

_Yup. Dad should've saved his credits._

Violet downed the rest of her drink. "To the others, I mean." Then she took my arm and pulled. "Right now."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

The two shots hadn't affected her coordination at all. By the time we were halfway to the residential wings, she had my back to the lift's rear wall. Not that I minded. "We'll go to my room," she said, between kisses. "It's closest."

"Sure," I whispered. Maybe this was all just another dream. I didn't want to make a lot of noise and risk waking myself up.

She was using her flight ring to get her face level with mine. The door opened. Anyone waiting on the other side could have seen us in full-blown lip lock.

But I didn't really care.

Every sense, every nerve I had yelled, _Now, Faster, Hurry,_ once we got to her room. I made them all shut up and take numbers. At least most of our clothes made it to the desk chair, instead of landing on the floor.

It surprised me when she set the lights at half-strength, but didn't draw back the blanket. "I want to see you, Reep. If… that's okay."

"Y—yeah…" I made a mental note to stop underestimating my friends so much. After that, my note-taker left for the night. Her hands were gliding over the ridges on my torso and her lips were... _Sweet… gods..._ I shivered.

Softly: "Are… are you cold?"

"No." Nothing remotely like cold. I looked up at her. "It's just… I haven't… you know, I've never…"

"Neither have I." She sounded nervous, but her face looked determined. "I've… done the research, though."

"Uh, me, too. Come here, okay?" My mouth started at hers, but it didn't stay there. When I hit the spot on one side where her neck flowed into her shoulder, she moaned something under her breath and dug her nails into my upper arms. Maybe there'd be marks.

I didn't care about that, either. She was above, around, and all through me. I was hers, for as long as she wanted.

"Salu..." I needed to tell her that, and some other things, too.

She pressed her mouth to my right ear, whispering. "What?"

I could smell traces of fruit on her breath. Her fingertips lightly traced the outline of my left ear. I couldn't make any sounds that formed words. So I let them go.

What had brought her here now, what would take her away later, was meaningless. My incredible good fortune was all that mattered. For as long as it held.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

It was awkward, sitting halfway up like this, but I didn't want to stop holding her. "It'll be daylight in…" I stretched my neck just a little as I squinted at the clock. "Three hours." I had trouble believing it.

She drew me back down, under the covers. "Playing spoons," as the local expression went. The lights were off now. Her hair tickled my neck, and I still couldn't place its scent. Especially now, with her form's real scents mixed in. For a few minutes, everything was quiet; except for our breathing as it slowly got back to normal.

"Hey, uh... Thanks for letting me stay."

"Thanks for staying." She leaned back, and pressed even closer to me. "Anyway, if you take up too much space, I can shrink, remember?"

I smiled, even though she couldn't see it. "Okay then."

"Reep, did… did you like it?"

"Yeah. A whole lot, Salu."

I stroked her cheek, her shoulder, and the curve of one hip, until she took my hand and drew it across her waist. "Same here. Except, I think… I might be too tired to sleep."

But she wasn't. In fact, she dozed off before I did. My last thoughts before I followed were of Tinya's gold comb. I'd shoved it in my jacket pocket when I'd found it on Violet's floor, earlier; while we were taking a breather. _Maybe I'll hide it. Let her spend a day panicking over it being "lost." She owes me for that trick with the coffee._

She mumbled something in her sleep, in her own tongue. I recognized the word "Tsalk." She'd told me what it meant once, but I couldn't remember now. Her voice was soft, and her hand squeezed mine, but gently.

_Nah. _

But I'd forgotten to tell her about Nemesis Kid._ Stupid. I'll have to do that when she wakes up._

My own sleep was dreamless; empty of obligations or worries about tomorrow. Hell, technically it was already tomorrow.

I had no idea what was waiting with sunup. My ignorance was just another blessing; just one more share of good fortune.

**End Ch. 13**

_("The Madness of Our Love" is from Denise Jannah's CD of the same name. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Sorry for the long delay in updating. Thanks for your patience, and for reading.)_


	14. Anywhere

**Anywhere**

_(Two Legionnaires, plus a deepening mystery involving old foes and old friends alike. Cham/Vi. Begun for Green Earth's Crack Pairings Contest/Challenge. Chapter set about two years after S2's "Dark Victory." 'T' for violence, language, m/f sex [non-explicit], minor character death. If that bothers you, please don't read. Comments and/or constructive criticism are welcome. I don't own any DC characters and situations and blah blah blah. ) _

3011

…_No one knows why they preserved the capital's old name, and no others. When Council revives the ceremony, I'll write whatever speech they want: for Yosvan Aalt, for science, medicine, and exploration. I know that it won't be long now, Legion Friend... -11/8/10 -Ambassador Zir Derbai, private com excerpt. _

Spring was coming to Grystaad's most populous region. Their Representative's Council had invited Triplicate Girl, Star Boy, Saturn Girl, Chameleon Boy and me to honor the change with them at month's end. We'd been the first off-worlders to set foot there in a century, after their revolution ended.

Alexis Luthor would be there, too. She'd become Grystaad's most visible benefactor, since it had emerged from a century of isolation to join the U.P. She gave and asked nothing in return. She'd served her time, cleaned up her act, etc. At least, a lot of people believed that. We'd have to swallow our skepticism and be gracious for the newsfeeds.

For almost two years, I'd struggled with this puzzle: the last one remaining from Brainiac Five's time with the Legion. Whatever else happened, I meant to solve it. I'd given my word.

Chameleon had been there almost from the start; devoted to the same work. Still, he wasn't my only help. The whole team had drawn together, rewoven itself to patch what we'd lost with Brainy's departure. Almost everyone in the Legion had contributed in some way, over time.

So I did what Trip and the others all wanted. I shut the mystery away for a few hours. Like a good soldier, I let her march me out of the lab.

It was far easier than I'd expected. We laughed, joked, and drank toasts to Chuck and Luornu's engagement. For one night, everyone looked at stars and colored lights instead of the clock. We'd worked so hard, waited so long for something to celebrate.

It ended with Cham and I alone together: Something else long overdue. To see the blacks of his eyes expanding, shining. Until he closed them, drew me down: a smooth bright figure against my old gray blanket.

To hold and kiss my friend, to touch what lived at his very center…

We were both new to this. Some things went fast that should have gone slow. Or vice versa. But I didn't mind. Reep kissed me and stroked my hair at the finish, just like he had at the start. His arms were around me, and I fell asleep wrapped in summer sunlight.

His breathing became the rustle of green leaves. In my dreams, no friends or allies turned into monsters. No one went missing, or died before their time. All questions were answered. All puzzles were solved.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Daylight arrived much too soon. I'd meant to wake up before both the alarm and Cham. But I was only half successful.

"Computo, lights at eighty percent."

I threw on my old pink robe, and straightened up the bed. I caught traces of his scent, felt echoes of my dream-state euphoria.

"Computo, bring up room com."

I checked everyone's status. He was already on his way to the lab.

He'd picked up my clothes from last night, including Tinya's dress, and draped them neatly over the desk chair. Her gold comb sat next to the keyboard, with a paper note underneath: _Talk to Nemesis Kid._ Druiter was still asleep, but I left him a message.

The weather report displayed cloudless blue graphics and twinkling bright suns: Seven days worth. It was almost Spring here, too.

_All questions have answers...  
_

We'd solved the initial puzzle: the "landmines" that had kept killing Grystaadians even after their Junta's overthrow. Turned out that most of them weren't mines at all. The culprits were two non-native plants that had thrived over much of Grystaad's surface in the last century. Each produced an airborne toxin that had permeated the natives' bodies. Building eventually into the organic equivalent of two explosive charges.

But the picture was bigger than that. It was riddled with missing pieces. For example: what was Luthor's interest in Grystaad?

Then there was Sar Erzah. He'd been their ambassador's aide, after serving under her command during the war. Now he was her successor, and Luthor's right hand both on and off his homeworld. Or did he have some agenda of his own...?

There was still time. We would get the goods on her before the ceremony. There was nothing we couldn't accomplish. I was sure of it.

A SciPol press release appeared, blinking red on my screen. I clicked it open: "_Search for missing U.P. diplomat ends today."_

So much for euphoria. I shivered, and pulled the robe more tightly around me. "Computo, run primary supporting feed for this bulletin."

Chief Investigator Avrim Valenz had been working with Grystaad almost as long as we had, usually on the planet proper. Now he was back on Terra. He was thirty-five standard, with a pleasant, olive-skinned face. Close-cropped, graying dark hair and beard to match.

SciPol was calling off all official attempts to find Ambassador Zir Derbai, after months of fruitless searching. She'd disappeared soon after our discovery about the mines; the breakthrough I'd promised her long before.

"Audio only, Computo. Raise volume twenty-five percent."

I listened while I washed and dressed. Derbai had disappeared under a cloud of suspicion, claims that she was hiding something: Money or assets that her own family had stolen from its people, over a century of despotic rule. _No._ She was the first Grystaadian I'd ever met. She had turned against the Junta to fight for her homeworld's freedom. _No matter what anyone says, it just doesn't fit._

Valenz fielded a lot of routine questions. As usual, he came across as honest and focused, but not exactly brilliant; same as most police. By the time he was wrapping things up, I was back at my desk, fastening my shoes.

"Resume visual, Computo."

A trivial thing caught my eye: an old-fashioned paper print behind him on the conference room wall. Dark blue, with rectangles scattered over it. Each rectangle was a white outline made of two squares stuck together. Each square had a varied number of white dots inside.

I knew it was a game, a toy, originating here on Terra. But I couldn't recall its name, or exactly how it worked.

I would, long before today was over.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

It was just after breakfast. Cham and Invisible Kid were busy in the lab. I was with Lightning Lad and Dream Girl in the Leader's Office, updating them on the case.

About a week back, Star Boy and Cham had helped Dreamy nab a freelance courier: a Grystaadian who used the name Son Bhule. SciPol hadn't been able to hold her long, but Cham had copied the bank records she'd been hauling. He'd run them through a SciPol tracking program; one he'd retooled to be faster and more thorough.

"Interesting." Garth studied the results as they floated just above his desk com. "You started with… how many banks?"

"Over six thousand. All of them worked in some capacity with either LexCorp -or its subsidiaries- over the last century."

Dreamy looked thoughtful. "So out of those, only forty-five had documented dealings with Grystaad before the Junta took power."

I nodded. "It never did attract much outside investment." Too far from major trade routes. Too few natural resources of any market value. In addition, its terrain had been largely desert; a hotter climate than most U.P. citizens preferred.

She studied the page again. "Then the first Junta tampered with its own sun, terraformed its land... Now it's officially the U.P.'s poorest planet."

Garth was still reading the list. "So, only twelve of those forty-five are still in business today…" He scrolled further down, but an alert popped up on his screen before he could continue.

I shook my head. "Don't tell me…" The code flashing under SciPol's logo was one we saw all too often.

"Afraid so." More damn Scavengers. He closed my report and cued up SciPol's visuals. Asteroid T-36 was just beyond the orbit of Earth's moon. About as far out as Exchange Place: the site of Bhule's capture, but in a different direction.

"You didn't see this one coming?" He gave Dreamy a sly look across the desk as he got up. "Too much good cheer yesterday?"

"You ordered me to go, remember?" She rapped the knuckles of his mech hand with a pen, just once. "A good Deputy never disputes her leader's decisions."

"Uh-huh. Is that from one of those 'teamwork guides' that Cos keeps 'accidentally' leaving in the lounge?" His real hand flew across the keys, rounding up a team for the mission.

"I thought those were yours," I said, winking at Dreamy.

"Hell, no. I hate those things." He sent out the last call and moved towards the door.

"But you read them," Dreamy said. "Caught you last week. Or were you just looking for the crossword?"

"That's enough, Nal." But he was grinning. "Finish reviewing that report. Then make sure you see Lyle for your dream recording."

"Yes, Sir." She took his place behind the desk. "Anything else, Sir?" Her voice was hyper-cheerful, like she was taking his lunch order.

Garth sighed and motioned me towards him. "Let's go, Violet."

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

Most of the team was already off-planet, making up for time we'd lost yesterday. So it was the two of us, along with Cham, Phantom Girl, Timber Wolf, and Triplicate Girl.

Garth briefed us on the trip out. "Place was empty for years. SciPol doesn't know how long the Scavengers've been there. Just that they managed to switch life support back on surface-side, without any patrols picking up on it until today."

"Figures," Cham grumbled. "Ten minutes... ten days... No big deal, right?"

Garth threw a sly look his way. "Y'know, I figured you'd be in a better mood today, Cham. Since, uh..."

Everyone else looked at him, then at me. We both folded our arms and stared straight ahead. Mom had warned me once that I'd probably have as much privacy in the Legion as she'd had in the Imskian Army.

On my right, Wolf tactfully cleared his throat. "You sure we can handle this alone, Lightning Lad? Class 36ers are pretty big."

"All we've gotta' do is hold 'em as best we can, while the cops come in behind us and string up a net."

Wolf muttered something to Phantom. All I could hear over the motion of flight was, "…could've won that last round if not for…"

"You wish," she replied.

Trip spoke from Cham's left. "So basically it's a junkyard?"

"Reclamation Complex," Garth corrected her.

"But it's closed, right? Anything of value got hauled off years ago." Trip looked perplexed, understandably. "What could the Scavengers want with it?"

"We're about to find out."

The stars raced by. T-36 came in sight: asymmetric, gray-brown and ugly. It resembled a Vron B engine drive that someone had just fished from a puddle of watery clay.

"Who owns it?" I said.

We were close enough now to see dark spots that hovered like migrating birds in a V-shape at one end of the asteroid: Scavenger freight runners. Not as big as the legit variety, but still armed and dangerous.

Garth's mech arm was at the ready. We flanked him as close as was practical. "Would you believe a bank called Ridj, now—"

"Ridj-Wald Intergalactic Finance," Cham finished. He shared a look with Phantom, Garth, and me.

Trip and Wolf both looked confused now, but there was no time to explain. The runners were a variety of shapes and sizes, but they all faced away from T-36. We were square in the enemy's field of vision.

"Got what they came for, looks like!" Garth dodged a concussion beam from the craft nearest us. It was the biggest of six, and it took off at a good clip, its shields easily shrugging off Garth's cannon blast.

I shrunk down to doll size fast, and moved back and up, out of his way. Trip divided, and Phantom went intangible.

Garth pointed his real hand at the craft as he fired mech-blasts at its followers. "Wolf! Cham! Move in!"

Wolf got into combat form, using his claws to clamber up the ship's curved back. Showers of sparks flew as he looked for a seam in the hull to pull loose.

Cham morphed into an Ozur System Dragon. He fixed huge, raptor-like talons to a ledge on the craft's front and lashed its side with a long, prehensile tail.

Too late. The ship began to hum and glow, crackling with a blue-green aura: a jerry-rigged teleporter. My teammates barely let go in time. The ship's outline flickered several times before it disappeared completely.

_Hope your guts feel that for a month_, I thought.

Wolf snarled as the remaining five opened fire. Cham's leathery wings beat as he wove back and forth among them. He knocked his tail against the front windows and roared with a mouthful of giant teeth, distracting the pilots.

"Looks like they only had one ticket out of here." All three Trips circled fast between and around the crafts, moving opposite Cham's direction.

A portal opened up top of each ship, each revealing an armored gunman or two. Shots flew around White. She ducked, moved in, kicked the nearest weapon loose, and tossed it to Orange.

The big gun stuck once or twice. "Talk about junk!" She fired once or twice over the enemy's head. "Luthor cut off your allowance again?" He retreated back inside the ship. She tossed the weapon away.

"Don't bait them!" Purple shouted above the din as the weapon landed in her hands. "It's dangerous!" She fired over the head of another gunman.

"Killjoy," said Orange and White.

"Should I try and break in?" I asked Garth.

"Not yet!" He flew back and forth a short distance, facing towards the asteroid surface; trying to stay between the ships and their path to freedom as he met their fire. I kept an eye peeled in that direction, but there was no sign of SciPol just yet.

Phantom got in a few kicks, but mostly she let the blasts go harmlessly through her: positioning herself so the Scavengers hit one another—when they managed to hit anything at all. She pointed at the other ships as their gunmen retreated back inside. "What now?" She yelled at Garth.

He continued firing lasers from his mech arm in a quick scything motion. "You and Violet scout down there!" he yelled. His shots forced the smaller ships closer together. "For anything or anyone they left behind! Then wait for us at the central tower! The one with the big lift!"

Phantom nodded once. She took off and I followed. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Cham, now in the form of a Giff's Nebula Spotted Slug. He was coiled perpendicular around a ship. More sparks, more noise as the radulae in his mouth wore at the hull. Wolf used his claws on the roof.

Phantom made a face. "I am _so_ not helping clean that up." She couldn't see me smile, because I had my head turned as we descended.

Landing and departure decks made up either end of the asteroid. Seven concrete storage units formed an elongated "C" between them. They were graduated cylinders. All but the very tallest were open-topped.

We kept quiet, in case any Scavengers were still here. We stayed airborne, braking a couple of meters above the concrete ground. It was scarred and dirty, with dead grass showing through a multitude of cracks.

We did a quick recon around the complex in a figure eight. The silence was eerie after the commotion space-side. We landed in front of the lift Garth had mentioned. It was set between the two mid-sized towers.

Somebody had once tried to prettify the place. There were fragments of bright paint and decorative stone here and there, but time had taken its toll. I saw bolt marks where benches and trees had fallen to looters, or to some long-gone creditor.

"I'll take the lowest level," I whispered, "If you handle things up here."

She nodded. "First to finish takes mid-level. Second buys First a drink later on."

"Okay." I managed to cover up my smile a second time. She took off, moving inside the towers and out again to see who, or what, might still be lingering there.

It was pointless to mess with the lift's controls. They were likely disabled years back. I just shrank down, slipped between the two doors, and grew again for my descent to Level Two.

The lift car itself was long gone, so I saved some time by emerging directly into the shaft. Whatever the Scavengers had taken hadn't come up this way.

The passage walls were lined with illuminators and guides that could bruise or tear skin. Even though they hadn't been powered up in years. I stayed a little smaller than average for the trip. My ring gave enough light so I could speed in relative safety.

In barely half a minute, I found a "Two" on the shaft wall in flaking luminous paint. Another momentary shrink-down, another slip through a pair of doors, and I was on the level itself.

The air here was stuffy and cold at the same time. It smelled of dust and old oil. My ring illuminated neat rows of circular pallets covered in dirty plastic domes. Each had fresh glove-prints that had erased some of the grime. I peered through them one by one without landing. The pallets were empty, at least to a full-sized eye.

There were no warning symbols affixed to the domes. In theory, whatever was inside would be safe for me to handle.

They were heavy and tightly fitted. I was half the size of a Martian Dwarf Ant before I could negotiate the space between the dome's base and the pallet's outer edges. Once inside, I grew a few millimeters and traveled down between the slats. They held bits of paint and metal that gave off a faint gleam against dark, plasti-sealed wood. I saw scoring crosswise to the grain, where full-sized pieces of machinery or alloy had sat undisturbed for years. Almost no dirt had entered the score marks. So the domes' removal and replacement had been both brief and very recent.

This was what the Scavengers had come for. Hopefully, SciPol would stop them before they could take it far. Without anyone getting hurt.

I worked fast, opening a micro-compartment in my belt and pouring in several dozen varicolored fragments. When I resumed full size, the plastic liner in the compartment would be about as big as a barley grain. I gave silent thanks for Imskian tech. When I returned to the lab, I'd find out what in blazes I'd just picked up.

As I emerged and reached normal size, my ring sent up a digitized map. Phantom was calling for help from the heart of Level One.

Light was scarce and there was debris everywhere: unwanted items the Scavengers had thrown aside in their haste. It was slow going until I reached the shaft again.

Level One looked as dark and deserted as its neighbor below. But there was a maze of old plex-cube dividers instead of pallets. An overturned chair lay just outside the lift's doorway. I barely managed to fly over without barking my shins on it. The dust smell was stronger here, but the oil smell was gone altogether. Desk jockeys had worked here.

I'd barely made it past the first few cubes when I heard a muffled blast above ground, then a low groan. Everything around me got the tremors, but I managed to stay airborne._ Great._ I was in no mood to spend the afternoon digging myself out of a collapse. Phantom probably wasn't, either. Especially now that I owed her a drink.

I raced toward an upended divider, rounded and bigger than the rest, at room's center. A motion-activated light flickered. Flashes of white cloth, black hair, big white fasteners. She was upright, unhurt.

"Phantom?" This close, I could see dark spatters on both carpet and divider, along with the unmoving forms of four Scavengers at her feet. "Did they—?" I hadn't heard any scuffle.

She shook her head. "Found 'em like this." We crouched down by a litter of discarded tech. "One's still breathing." She'd wrapped her cape around the Scavenger. I supported what might have been feet as she lifted the other end and turned all three of us immaterial.

"This one's tall," I said. We were moving straight up, through the ceiling and then through crossed beams, pipes, and long-unused wiring that comprised the underside of the surface level. I always wondered if shrinking would feel as odd to her as being immaterial felt to me.

She nodded, frowning. "Armor's heavy, too." We emerged some distance from the lift, to more company and dirtier air than we'd had on arrival. I blinked at the sudden re-exposure to daylight as she solidified us again.

"C'mon!" Lightning Lad waved to us from the equivalent of a half-block's distance. There was also a SciPol short-hopper, with one officer standing by.

The two storage units furthest away from us had collapsed. I could see the breaks where one had blown up at the base and knocked its neighbor sideways. Unit 3 was now bearing that weight and looked none too stable, either.

We moved fast as we could with the Scavenger in tow. "There's three more down there, dead!" Phantom said.

The officer's tag said _Jang_. "This way!" He motioned us towards the hopper. "Bodies'll have to wait!"

The space inside Jang's ship was cramped, so we put the wounded Scavenger down on the floor. We were barely off the ground before another explosion hit. He punched in coordinates, his hands shaking from the impact, like everything else here. Debris pelted the hopper's roof.

"I didn't see any explosive set-ups in the towers!" Phantom said.

"They probably used Nano-remotes!" Jang said. "Can't see those with the naked eye!"

"Nice parting gift," said Garth.

Jang grumbled something, then: "Everyone hold on!" He didn't turn around.

But I was already on my stomach, with Phantom on the other side of our bundle. There was nothing to see when I looked up but two dark chair backs and a wedge of blinking console lights.

"Lightning Lad, was anyone else—?" I raised my head. The hopper's floor was scuffed, hard and cold.

"No. The Sergeant's people showed right after you left."

"Grabbed four out of six ships," Jang said. "Not bad, overall." The ride was smoothing out, so Phantom and I could both sit upright. By now, we were back in space. I watched the cop punch a course for Medicus One.

"Fine. _Don't_ say 'Thank You.'" Phantom muttered.

I almost laughed, despite everything. Or because of it. She was three for three and it wasn't even noon yet.

Garth spun around to look at us. "I sent the others back with Jang's people to help process our friends. How's—?"

Phantom pulled back some of the cape. "She." The skin where the Scavenger's mask ended was pale blue. "And, not so good."

A chill ran through me, as Phantom slipped it clear off. The face was bruised and swollen all over. I saw the feelers move feebly back and forth, in time with shallow breath. Two of the three eyes were swollen shut.

"Is that—?" Garth leaned forward.

_Oh, God._ To find her so close, after all these months… _Derbai. How in hell_—

But then I noticed the row of cropped feelers in front. I pulled back more of the cape, and saw tentacles, six emerging from each shoulder. More bruises showed through tears in the stained Scavenger uniform.

Jang stole a look at us, one hand on his weapon. But there was no need. Her one good eye blinked slowly. Once. Twice.

"The courier?" Garth said.

I nodded.

"Were the other three beaten as badly as this?"

"I'm not sure," Phantom said. "It was dark. But they weren't cold yet, and I think she was the only Grystaadian."

One of Bhule's "limbs" touched my lower arm. A few of her feelers shifted, in time with the motion of her bruised mouth. The teeth were still intact, but just then I didn't think about how strange that was.

"Tracks in…" The rest was gibberish, or broken slurs in her own tongue. The engine's noise swallowed up several more sentences altogether.

I felt like screaming at the Sergeant's armored back: _Doesn't SciPol ever service these damn things?_

We needed a telepath, but Saturn Girl was clear on the other side of the galaxy. I could feel Jang skillfully dropping us through Terra's atmosphere, but I knew we'd never reach Medicus One in time. I touched the audio module on my belt, hoping to record whatever else she might say. I felt like _I_ was the vulture, the scavenger here.

Phantom used the corner of her cape to wipe a dark streak away from Bhule's mouth. She held the messenger's shoulder gently, just in case Bhule could still feel anything.

"Son Bhule, why did Luthor send you to T-36?" Phantom said.

The messenger made a choking noise, and lost her hold on my arm. She was the age I'd been when I'd joined the Legion. She'd helped win a war, only to wind up Sar Erzah's pawn; and by extension: Luthor's.

_And for what? Damn it all!_ I wanted very badly to break something just then. I wanted to hit rewind. Do the whole puzzle over. Be smarter, stronger, faster, and save everyone.

"Too much… Tracks in… C-couldn't…" Another indecipherable sentence, then, "Zir Cenbai…"

"Bhule!" But she was long past hearing anything. Zir Cenbai was one of the missing Ambassador's elders. He was Junta, a prisoner on Takron-Galtos. "Why—?"

Her one good eye widened, looking up at the square yellow light on the ship's ceiling. _"Ilharla, ket mira ohm..."_ Her whispers sounded loud now, because Jang had brought his ship to a stop.

We were on the ground again. I shut off my recorder. There was nothing else to hear now.

Phantom gave me a hand up, so we could clear out fast and let medics take the girl's body away.

"Dreamy didn't foresee this part," she said.

"It wasn't her fault," I said, as we watched Jang speak with the medics. "Everyone did the best they could."

Phantom nodded, like we both almost believed that.

Jang escorted us up the walkway and called the hospital's SciPol liaison, so we could file our report without trailing him back to the central precinct. Then he said a polite goodbye. I'd never even seen his face under the helmet. The pre-noon sky above his ship as he hurried back to it was blue, and almost cloudless.

I would always remember Bhule's face, even if I didn't want to.

.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.

The liaison found us a quiet corner in one of the waiting rooms. She had a 'bot fetch us paperwork and something to drink. Another Sergeant, but without armor or a heavy weapon visibly in tow. Trice Tanaka was her full name. I managed to remember that even before reading her nametag. Lightning Lad and Phantom Girl did most of the talking, which suited me fine. I held the cylinder of warm tea against my cheek, as I signed whatever she held out to me. It didn't help. I felt cold with anger and disgust, but I made myself tear off the seal and drink anyway. It tasted like nothing at all.

"…made the final cut," Garth was explaining after we finished; talking to her about Grystaad. "Extant banks that Zir Derbai spoke to, before she disappeared."

"There were only five in the courier's records," added Phantom. She must have visited the lab earlier: seen Cham's final report. "One headquartered on Mars, one on Eris, two on Earth…"

…And one on Imsk: Ridj-Wald.

"Your teammate's quite the creative thinker." Tanaka wrote some note to herself on the pad. "Did any of you remember to notify Chief Zendak that he was doing outside modification of a pre-existing program?"

"I'm sure we did," said Garth. "Maybe the Chief's just been too busy to, uh, provide any input."

Phantom raised an eyebrow in my direction as I finished my drink. "Sgt. Tanaka, I'm sure we have the authorization back at HQ. I'd be happy to find it for you sometime today." She'd left her cape behind for the hospital's incinerator. I didn't blame her.

"Please see that you do." Tanaka stood up. "Meanwhile, let me walk you to the lift." The 'bot swooped in behind her and took away the empty drink cylinders. She tucked her pad with our signed statements under one arm.

I thought about how Derbai had made the rounds after the war, begging for financial help. Something to augment what scant funds U.P. Gov could spare; so those who stayed on her homeworld might have some comfort and safety to go with the freedom they'd fought so hard to obtain. She'd found no takers of consequence anywhere. Until Luthor.

I listened to my teammates and Tanaka playing diplomat in their own right, and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I promised Tanaka an audio transcript and info on the sample of metal I'd found, once I got back to HQ. Jang and Valenz would want that, too, of course.

After she'd gone and we were flying home, Garth turned to me. "I could've told you and Cham last night, I guess. Except it wouldn't have made any difference."

Phantom's gaze moved back and forth between us. Once. Twice. "I'll... just fly on ahead. You know, go look for those forms Tanaka wanted." She rubbed one of her eyes absently, then put on a burst of speed and was gone.

"Told us what?" I finally asked Garth. The blast of spring wind was so cold that my face stung. A row of flags snapped back and forth as we soared past the square in front of the U.P Tower.

"That Valenz was gonna' call off the search today. He figured we'd all reached a stalemate with this thing; that maybe the announcement would knock something loose, somewhere."

I nodded, thinking of the the grain's worth of evidence I had with me. Then backwards, to the falling towers, the dead Scavengers, and the print behind Valenz when he'd made the announcement. "SciPol does tend to drag its feet. A lot."

"Yeah." Garth glanced at me a couple of times, as if he was trying to decide whether or not he should apologize.

I wasn't sure, either. I felt grateful and guilty, more or less at the same time. "But it looks like maybe he's right," I finally said as we neared HQ.

Knock down one thing and it knocks down others: a chain reaction.

Dominoes.

**End Ch. 14**

_("Anywhere" is from Beth Orton's CD The Other Side of Daybreak. Lyrics posted to my LJ. Sorry for the long delay in updating. Thanks for waiting, and for reading.)_


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